


The Heresy Geisha Association

by wolfmagic48



Category: the GazettE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Burlesque Club, Alternate Universe - Prostitution, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Anal Fingering, Drinking, Grinding, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Masturbation, Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2018-12-16 05:06:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11821821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfmagic48/pseuds/wolfmagic48
Summary: Welcome to the Heresy Geisha Association. Run by Uke Yutaka, better known as Kai, this “hostess club” caters to the “special needs” of men with “unusual tastes”. Confused by all the quotation marks? Well, allow me to explain…





	1. Chapter 1

_In other news, the body found on the seaside near Miura, Kanagawa has been identified as Emily Smith, a 20 year old American woman who worked at the Heresy Geisha Association, a hostess club in Shinjuku, Tokyo. This is the third woman-_

Kai sighed, shutting off the tv and taking a bite of rice while digging his toes into the carpet. Everything was falling apart for him. Police had been thoroughly investigating his business for weeks, and it was scaring away customers to the point where not even one costumer had showed up yesterday. That was how Kai found himself eating a bowl of rice and kimchi in his bathrobe at 5pm instead of setting up his club for the evening. The girls had seemed grateful for the day off - the few that were still left, anyway. That was another problem, too, the amount of girls that had quit and the complete lack of anyone up to the job of replacing them. Between the murders and the less official side of his business, it was difficult to find any takers.

Kai took one more bite of his food and then set it aside on the table, pulling out his laptop instead. Bypassing his usual social media and news stops, Kai went straight to the internets true purpose - porn. He pulled a bottle of lube out from under his sofa cushion with one hand and typed a familiar phrase with the other (gay sex daddy spanking). He scrolled and found a video about the length he knew he needed, untying his robe and dribbling the slick liquid onto his figures while an intro he could care less about played out before him. He wrapped his fingers around his dick, shuttering at the cold only for a moment before each stroke and bit of friction brought his member to life. He watched the two men on the screen, the way the larger man pinned the smaller one down by his neck, the way he lifted to others legs and ass with one hand and spanked him with the other, the way he shoved his fingers into the other mans ass…

Kai hissed, pulling a bit too roughly, and gasped has he came to a realization.

_Men._ He thought, laughing lightly and grabbing tissues from him side table. _Boys._ He smiled, closing his laptop and sitting it on the ground. _Desperate young boys._ He nodded to himself, balling up his used tissues. 

He stood up and picked up his bowl of rice and kimchi, taking a bite and heading to his kitchen. It would be a risk, he knew, but times were changing, especially in his part of the city. If anything, having hosts would probably be the least of all the risks he had taken with his club. He’d need a variety of men, a versatile group ready to cover a variety of needs, but he imagined that wouldn’t be difficult to find. It was definitely the sort of thing he’d have to wait to start, considering the amount of law enforcement around, but if he just closed down for a month or two, he was sure that this would all blow over. Murders in the red-light district was nothing new, and the case was only high profile because the first girls damn parents gave too many fucks. They’d either get justice for their girl or the police would talk them off their high horses.

_Two months_ , he decided, sitting his empty bowl in the sink. He knew he was likely to loose girls in the time, but that would be okay. He had an idea or two for how to replace them.

He squeezed some soap into the bowl and turned on the water as hot as it would go, watching steam swirl up from the bubbly water with a smile on his face. It was exciting, the thought of running a place he might actually want to go to. Besides, it was ridiculous, the lack of gay establishments at this point. He wasn’t even sure that he’d heard of a host club for gay men. Not that what he ran was strictly a host club, whatever he advertised as. That was the sign on the door, and the main part of his business from five till midnight, but after midnight? That was for Heresy Members, and those men got something a little extra special. Women dressed in suits or bound up in rope and other special outfits weren’t the only appeal of his establishment. For a price and with a blue wristband, men could touch above the waist. A purple wrist band and kisses were okay. And a red wrist band… well, that lead to things a bit outside the realm of what any hostess club really did. As on the fringe as his business was in some ways, he’d never had a problem, not once, until some girl broke policy and went on a date with one of the men outside of his club. Since then, his girls bodies were turning up left and right, and murder, even in the red-light district, wasn’t great for business.

With nothing to do for the evening, he figured he’d call his mother and clean up the kitchen a bit, maybe make some french toast and bring it around to his girls as an apology. It was the least he could do after all the trouble he’d caused, after all, and even if he couldn’t pay them, he could at least make sure they were eating properly.

He turned off the faucet and reached for his phone, dialing his mother with a faint smile.

_Uke?_

“Good evening, mom.”

_Have you seen the news lately? Those murders are just terrible._

“Yes, mom, they truly are.”

_Hows that kitchen job going? Are you still only on for lunch?_

“Uh… yeah mom. Just lunch.”

_They really should hire you on for breakfast. Your baking is so lovely._

“It’s too early in the morning for me. You know that.”

He could hear his mom sigh over the phone as he held his breath, ready for the oncoming speech, maybe even the suggestion of university again. On one hand, he hated calling his mom, hated the lying and lectures, but it was worth it. Anything to hear her voice, someone who actually cared.

And so he smiled and melted butter in a pan, enjoying the sizzle, his moms voice, and an after-orgasm lightness while he thought about the logistics of adding hosts to the Heresy Geisha Association.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next month, the news coverage had dwindled to nil, and so had the officers watching The Heresy Geisha Association. It was just as Kai had expected - a murder in the red-light district couldn’t hold the public interests for long. 

So he’d put out ads and spread the word about his job openings for hostesses and hosts. He’d gotten a decent the response, and today found himself quite at home sitting behind his desk with the applications in folders on his desks. Tomorrow, he would open, and with a few special additions to his list.

He was excited, at least at first. But when the first man walked in, overly flamboyant in latex pink pants and hair teased to hell, he knew he was in for a long day.

~

“Come in,” Kai sighed, opening his drawer and lighting a cigarette as he raked a hand through his hair, tossing a glance over his shoulder, “do you mind?” 

“Willing to share?” asked the man, and Kai nearly dropped his cigarette. Not for the same reason he had dropped the last one (to be fair, the man had walked in naked), but because the man taking a seat in the chair in front of him was simply stunning. He glanced down at the paperwork in front of him, trying to connect it to the man in front of him, but something about it wasn’t quiet what he had expected.

“Of course, um. You’re… Aoi?”

“Yes,” the man said, a soft smile playing against the cigarette and lip ring he wore.

“And you’re 27?”

The man raised a pierced eyebrow, “Um, yes?”

“Wow, okay,” Kai threw the pack of cigarettes back into his drawer and drew out a lighter, lighting his cigarette, “Would you like me too…”

The man bent his head and leaned forward, hair falling in front of his eyes so he looked up at Kai through his hair, while Kai lit his cigarette, “Thanks.”

Kai let the silence hang for a couple long drags, watching the smoke swirl until his interviewee broke the silence with a smile, “So, you planning on interviewing me?”

Kai coughed, the burn of the smoke curling in his lungs in uncomfortable ways heightening the flush he could feel spreading across his face, “Yes, um, sorry about the age question. You’ve just clearly aged like fine wine.”

The mans laugh was so bubbly it was almost funny in and of itself, and Kai could tell this was a man who could hold a flirty conversation. He dressed the part, too, the suit-jacket and v-neck combination bringing out the piercing and choppy hair quite nicely. Kai’s mind was supplying a couple more revealing outfits, but Kai wasn’t complaining. He wasn’t about to complain about the muscles fighting their way through the shirt the man was wearing, either. Kai would be thinking about this man for quite a few nights, he was sure.

The mans tongue played with the edge of his lip ring as he took the cigarette out of his mouth, “Well, thank you. Is wine your drink of choice?”

And there it was, the classic turning the conversation back the costumer, “No, actually. I’m more of a mixed drink kind of guy.”

Aoi leaned forward across the desk, “What a coincidence as I am, too,” he smiled, blowing his smoke to the side like a gentleman.

“Any chance you’ve done this before?”

Aoi leaned back, taking another drag, “Did you even read my application?”

“I read a lot of applications.”

The man nodded with understanding, slipping his paperwork out from Kai’s arm, “I believe under experience I put something about working at The Bulldog, Fanged, Club Snake, and The Joker. which I normally wouldn’t mention but-“

“Wait, you’re the one with the reference who pretended they couldn’t speak Japanese.”

“Pretended?” Aoi’s hand shook slightly as he brought the cigarette back to his lips.

“It was the worse American accent I’ve ever heard.”

“How do you know it was fake?”

“Because I watch a lot of The Walking Dead and Supernatural.”

Aoi’s smile was refreshing like pineapple on a hot summer day, sweet, tangy and eye-catching all at once, as addictive as the roll of nicotine resting between the lush set of lips Kai found his eyes drawn to. 

He forced his eyes back down to the paper in front of him, reading over the list of clubs again, “Those are good clubs. And the Joker’s not a bad gig.”

Aoi coughed, eyes tearing up and wetting the makeup in his waterline, “Not a bad gig?”

Kai put his cigarette in the ashtray and leaned forward, hands folder like Mr. Burns, “Those are such good clubs, and you’ve gotten such positive reviews, it makes me wonder how you’ve found yourself at the Red Motel.”

Aoi put his cigarette in the ashtray alongside Kai’s, “I was bored.”

“Bored?”

Aoi leaned back in his chair, “That’s not to say I just leave places when I get bored. It’s just, just talking to people who want to flirt with you even though its against policy, you hear the same old shit every night. And even switching to mens clubs didn’t really change anything. I just want a little more, ya know? Let the people say what they really want to say.”

Kai smiled, and nodded, “I hear that. You ever danced, tho?”

“What?”

Kai rolled his eyes, “Like, a strip tease.”

“Excuse me?”

“Did you just think those girls dressed pretty? No, my girls dance pretty too as the night goes on. I want my men to do the same.”

“Gosh, well, that would be something I haven’t done.”

Kai looked over the paperwork, eyes constantly drawn back to the age. 27. 27 years old, and this man was still hosting. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it was a bit unusual to have a host of that age.

“I could learn though,” Aoi said, eyes wide and bright, “I learn fast.”

Kai smiled, “I believe it. However, I’ll need you to turn in some std tests results, and you’ll have to come in for a few pole dancing lessons before you can work mornings. Your references were great and you’re handsome, so from what I’m gathering, I imagine you’ve reached the age limit on your previous contracts.”

Aoi’s face fell, “Am I really that easy to read?”

Kai put the paperwork back in Aoi’s folder, “You may have been doing this for six years, but so have I. I know I wouldn’t keep on a girl past 30. The ideal range is like 20 to 24. You’re getting up there in age, but I imagine you’ll age well and if this is truly what you love and you don’t have any familial connections that require more stability, I don’t imagine it’ll be a problem. If someone asks your age, just tell them you’re 24. Sound good?”

The mans face lit up, and he nodded with a smile, “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“You’ll start tomorrow at 17:00. Well, we don’t open till 19:00 but I have a few outfits in mind I want to try for you. You’ll take lessons and get that paper work for me. Once you do that, you can work past 22:00,” Kai stood up and rounded the desk, Aoi standing up as he did.

“Thank you so much,” Aoi bowed slightly, “and, um, see you tomorrow.”

Kai smiled,”Yes, Aoi. See you tomorrow.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Fuck me,” mumbled Kai, cigarette singeing the tip of his finger. The whole office smelled like an ashtray, so much so the rice he had eaten for lunch tasted like it had been scraped out of the bottom of a fire pit. His next applicant didn’t look great either, and he was honestly about ready to curl up and take a well-deserve nap. But he still had some applicants to go.

There was a knock on the door, and Kai let the twentieth cigarette rest in the ashtray, “Come in.”

The boy who entered was small but muscled, pants clinking with belts. A black bandana covered his nose and ruffled hot pink hair hung in a knotted mess around his face.

“Akira?”

“Yes.”

“Sit.”

The boy sat down, spreading his legs and leaning forward in the chair.

“Tell me about yourself.”

The boy met Kai’s eyes, holding his gaze, “I played bass and soccer in high school and I worked in a bread factory for the last year. I just moved to Tokyo a week ago.”

Kai straightened in his seat, smiling, “How’d you hear about this position?”

“Saw a poster in a bar a few weeks ago,” the boy did not smile back.

“And why should I hire you over the other dozen boys who have sat in that chair and begged me for my money today?”

The boy lean forward, shaking his bangs out of his face, “Do I look like I’m begging to you?”

Kai’s smile widened, “I see.” The silence was heavy and thick, and Kai found himself wetting his lips. “I’m assuming this means you know what you’re signing up for.”

Reita nodded, “I know this place is more than a hostess club. And this would be not be the first time I’ve done something like this. And I would say I’m quite good at it.”

“Good at what?” Kai crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, watching as the boy mimicked his position. An old trick, but a good one all the same.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” The boy still didn’t smile or break eye contact.

Kai lean forward in response, “I would, actually. I like to know what I’m paying for.”

Akira leaned forward too, this time over the desk, “I’d like to give you pain, and I’d like you to get pleasure from it.”

Kai raised an eyebrow, but the boy didn’t move, still as a statue.

Kai laughed.

“Kid, that has to be one of the best auditions I’ve seen today.”

Akira leaned back in his chair and smiled, “And you haven’t even seen what I can do yet.”

Kai shook his head, face splitting with a smile, “And you don’t have to right now. I hire hosts first, the rest second.”

“Do you think I'm a good host?”

Kai looked up from the paperwork, a bit surprised by having a question of that sort asked of him. “I imagine you will be. And I see you’ve already turned in a health report and it’s only a few days old, so that’s good. Do you pole dance by any chance?”

“Yes?” Akira bit his lip.

“Yes?” Kai raised an eyebrow.

Akira seemed to decide the stain on the wall behind Kai looked very interesting. “I know how, and I can but I don’t know that it’s a strong point for me. I just tend to get a little nervous in such an exposed setting.”

Kai nodded, looking back down at the forms in front of him. “I imagine it’s not really your style either.”

“Definitely not my style, yeah.”

“That’s okay though. I imagine that you’ll attract customers anyway, in a more private setting. Which is something you’re better at?” Kai glanced up at Akira again.

“Yes. I’m very good at that part.”

“Then you’ll be just fine. Although,” Kai stood up and rounded the table, “Stand up”.

Akira stood up, pants jangling as he did. He stood tall and came just about to Kai’s height. His basic frame was smaller than Kai's, but he wore a tank top that showed off the impressive muscles on his arms. They layered on top of one another like roof tiles, strong but brittle all at once. Kai circled him, and the boy shifted his weight to one foot. It was clear he wasn't used to being the one observed. He was mysterious and dominant, and if Kai was more honest with himself he might have admitted he wasn't sure what to do with a man of Akira's talents. But Kai wasn't very honest with himself. Kai had wanted different to walk in to his office today, and different certainly had walked in with baggy pants and a charcoal noseband. If nothing else, the boy seemed like he would certainly spice up the place.

“Your style is distinctive. I have some things you could try on, but I like what you have going on here. Might want to dye the hair a different color, though. I don’t think pink is going to attract the right sort of customers for you. Can you start tomorrow?”

The boy nodded.

“Okay, I’ll see you at 18:00. If I have some time, I'd like you to do a little dance for me and assuming that goes well, you can work the whole night. We close at 4am.”

The boy nodded again, bowing slightly. "Thank you."

"You can go," said Kai, motioning for the door and making his way back to his desk chair.

“Oh, and Akira?”

Akira paused, reopening the door.

“Come up with a new name for me. You don’t want to use your real one on these kinds of jobs.”

Akira nodded and closed the door behind him.

Kai decided the second pack of cigarettes was much better than the first.


	4. Chapter 4

The last application on his desk. Kai smiled as he opened his office door , “And you’re Uruha?”

The man smiled down at him, something that struck Kai immediately. It was a bit intimidating, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. But he had a bright smile that reminded him…

Shit.

Right, well, on with the interview.

“Come in.”

The man stepped inside and sat down in the chair, waiting to do so until Kai did.

“So, um, tell me about yourself.”

The man smiled and started talking, but Kai wasn’t really listening. Maybe it was the smile, maybe it was how tall he or how long his hair was or the way he did his makeup or the way he nervously tapped his foot or the way his thigh jiggled as a result or the shape of his nose… hell, it was probably all of those things. He looked down at the application in front of him, and the name wasn’t what it should be if he was right, but he was certain anyway.

“Um, I’m sorry, but I can’t hire you.”

The man stopped talk, smile falling away quickly.

“I’m sorry, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with you, it’s just too much of a risk, you know? I can’t…” Kai put his head into his hands, taking a deep breath before looking back up at the man, “I’m so sorry.”

“About what?”

Kai clenched his jaw and then leaned across the table to take the mans hand. He seemed shocked at first, but quickly relaxed into the touch. “About your sister. You’re her brother, aren’t you? The one she always talked about.”

“Did she?” He could see the way the mans eyes shined and threatened to ruin the makeup on his face.

Kai pulled his hand away, “Yes. She was the first one to disappear, and she deserved better than what she got. If I had realized that she was taking dates outside of the club, I would have put a stop to it immediately. And I’m doing everything I can to make sure the men who end up in the Heresy Geisha Association are safe.”

The man nodded, earrings jangling against each other, “It wasn’t easy, to go back to work. I was at a brothel, and I was terrified. I tried to request a few days, but I couldn’t have them, and when I took them anyway, they fired me. It’s been a month, and I have nowhere to go. And I know as terrible as what happened to my sister was, this was a good job up until then. In my line of work, the sort of thing that happened to my sister happens every other week and everyone just looks the other way. That was news here. That means something.”

Kai watched as the carefully drawn makeup ran in black streaks down Uruha’s cheeks, “I’m sorry.”

“I need the work, and this is a good job. Please.”

Kai shook his head, “It’s a liability risk. I can’t.”

Uruha stared down at his own legs, “That’s what everyone says,” Uruha stood up and headed for the door, but Kai stood up and grabbed the mans hand away from the doorknob.

“Hold on.”

The man turned towards Kai, and up close, makeup running down his face, Kai could feel his own eyes starting to water.

“Come in tomorrow. 18:00.”

The man froze, and even though he was looking down at Kai, it suddenly seemed like he was looking up.

“The job is yours.”

Kai wasn’t sure how his hand on Uruha’s wrist had turned to fingers laced together and Uruha pushing him against the wall, but it moved so quickly to Uruha’s lips on his he found his lips parting before he thought about it. Uruha’s tongue slid against Kai’s and as it slid away, Kai found himself pulling back.

“I don’t normally do that,” Kai knew he could unlace their fingers if he wanted to, but he couldn’t seem to remember quite how.

“That was a thank you. You don’t have to worry about it.” Kai could see his reflection in Uruha’s eyes. The side effect of kissing someone always seemed to Kai to be that eyes turned into mirrors.

“That was nice, though.”

Uruha leaned forward again, and this time Kai met him halfway, kissing back. The strangest part about the whole thing was that he wasn’t thinking about it too hard. He was just kissing and it just felt nice. He wasn’t thinking about impressing or thanking or apologizing, he was just kissing because it felt good, following the good feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done something without his brain trying to talk him out of it, but his thoughts were quiet, and Uruha’s tongue was warm and wet and bitter, somewhere between tears and alcohol, and that was when he realized why this kiss felt so different. For once in his life, Kai wasn’t the one who had kissed first. And the kiss was better for it.

When Uruha stepped forward, leaving Kai no place to escape, Kai found his legs spreading to make space for Uruha between them, and he hadn’t expected that from himself. Uruha hadn’t seemed like he was that kind of worker, either.

Uruha broke the kiss, panting heavily and moving his hand to the fly of Kai’s pants.

“This isn’t work,” Kai mumbled, closing his eyes and letting his head thump back against the wall.

“This isn’t work,” Uruha repeated.

Kai hissed when Uruha touched him with cold fingers, pulling a little too harshly, but the second time was more gentle and less cold, and Kai just closed his eyes and gave into the tug of the warm hands, rocking forward into them. Uruha seemed to match Kai’s own movements, or maybe Kai was matching Uruha’s, Kai wasn’t sure. He was trying not to think, and it was only sort of working.

“My sister was right about you.”

Kai opened his eyes to see Uruha staring at Kai’s face, and Kai sort of just wanted to melt into a puddle and become a stain the the carpet.

“She always said you were the gayest hostess club owner she’d ever met.”

Kai tried not to think about what that meant as Uruha sped up his pace and closed his eyes again.

Not thinking seemed to work, because it brought his to the climax he was hoping for.

Uruha stepped back, and they both looked at the spot on the carpet.

“Good thing you’re the last interview of the day,” Kai said, zipping himself back up.

There was a knock at the door.

“Shit.”


	5. Chapter 5

Interrupted sex is one of those things that Kai could never quite explain. Sex, in his opinion, was a building of tension, and when it’s interrupted, you’d expect the tension to lessen. In his experience, though, that’s not really what happens. It just changes the tension, shifts its attention, and suddenly all the tension, electric and terrifyingly warm, is directed at something unworthy of such attention.

There’s was a moment for Kai where he just didn’t want to exist. He didn’t just want to melt into a stain in the carpet, he wanted someone to come in here and vacuum him up. 

And then there was Uruha, lips slick, thighs rosy, and looking six times more attractive than anything has the right to. And maybe he had just cum, but the sight of that made him think that coming again was a very real possibility. That, and Uruha’s shorts seemed to have gotten tighter. A lot tighter. Like, distractingly so.

And it wasn’t exactly that Kai completely pushed aside the fact that Uruha hadn’t gotten attention or anything, but it was more like a little, primitive part of his brain was freaking out because it couldn’t figure out why the hell someone was knocking on his door when he had no other clients and there had been a string of murders connected to the very building he found himself wanting to get undressed in. It was all very confusing and layered with the sudden realization that he very much did not want to die in the moment and that seemed to suddenly have become a very real possibility.

“I don’t want to die,” he said, a bit louder than he’d really meant to.

Uruha, who had been just staring at the door, seemed suddenly launched into some kind of strange protective action as he pulled at his sweater to try to cover up things lower than the clothing was really designed to and opened the door.

_Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit…_ Kai’s brain would not shut up, and he kept himself plastered against the wall like maybe if he stayed still enough the person who entered the room would just think he was a rather realistic looking statue.

“Good evening,” the voice was low and gravely, and Kai suddenly had the very vivid image of a very large man with a very large gun and everything about the situation just got five times more terrifying.

“What do you want?” Uruha practically growled, seeming to go for some sort of I-was-raised-by-wolves-and-I-will-fuck-you-up-and-not-in-a-nice-way kind of vibe, and Kai couldn’t decide if it was funny, sexy, or just an idiotic thing a man could say before getting shanked.

“Um, are you doing job interviews today?”

“Uh, yeah, but we just interviewed our last applicant.”

“We?”

“Um… yeah.”

“O-okay.”

Kai changed his mind. Death sounded good again. That or maybe a blanket to hide under like he was a three-year-old playing hide-and-seek so he wouldn’t have to witness this.

The silence stretched on for much longer then a silence should be allowed to and was as tense as a room full of students taking exams. The real problem with exams was the prolonged silence around other people, in Kai’s opinion. It was clearly unhealthy. Groups are meant to be loud. It’s just the way people are.

“Who are you again?” Uruha was holding the door opened a bit wider now, leaning against the door frame.

“I’m um… my dad is… or I guess he’s not my dad anymore…”

Kai was pretty sure the boy was mumbling. That or his hearing was going and honestly that wasn’t surprising to him. This was just that painful to listen to.

“So your here for Uke’s rent?” Uruha glanced over at Kai, “Your name’s Uke? Really?”

More mumbling. And shuffling. And Kai trying really hard to make Uruha look like he was talking to a rather realistic looking statue.

“Well, um, I guess, I mean…” Uruha glanced over to Kai again, “What do you think, _Uke_? Think we should let the poor boy in late?”

Kai just hoped his eyes looked more intimidating than he felt.

“ _Uke_?” 

Apparently, they did not.

“Right, I’ll be right with you if you can just wait outside a moment,” Uruha closed the door, and then opened it again. “Please.”

A grumbled reply and Uruha closed the door.

“I should go.”

“That’ll look more suspicious now. And there’s cum on the floor.”

“Right. And there’s a stain on the wall behind your desk.”

“That one is different because I didn’t create it. Nature did.”

“I would say nature created the spot on the floor.”

“No, that’s man-made.”

Uruha giggled, light and bubbly like champagne, and Kai scrunched up his nose in frustration.

“Stop behaving like a child,” Kai crossed his arms and waited for the giggle to stop, but it seemed to be crescendoing into a laugh that Kai _really_ didn’t want the kid outside to hear, “You’re right about the stain, and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Uruha took a deep breath and covered his mouth, “Okay _Uke_.”

“Get. Out.”

Uruha opened the door, “Your turn kid.” He crouched down slightly and whispered (badly) in the small man’s ear, “He likes just a little twist at the end, by the way.”

“Get out, Uruha,” Kai said, breaking out a louder voice.

Uruha winked and closed the door as the small boy entered and Kai sat down in his chair.

“Come in. Sit.”

The boy stepped forward, his doc martens squishing as he stepped across the wet spot on the carpet, stopped, and lifted up his shoe to look at the bottom of it, “Um…”

“Sorry. There’s a leak. In the roof.”

The boy put his foot down and looked at the ceiling, “It smells like sex in here.”

“You are in a host club.”

“Host clubs don’t smell like sex,” the boy made his way over to the chair and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Mine does.”

The boy narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips together, tapping his fingers against his upper arm.

“Right, so, you’re here about job openings?”

“Yeah. I filled out an application, but my dad found it and it didn’t exactly get to you.”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah.”

Kai opened his desk and pulled out and empty form, “And how old does that make you?”

“Twenty.”

Kai looked up at the boy in front of him, long purple hair brushing the collar of a clearly toolarge suit jacket, and an ear with a rather small gauge in it. He was small and his voice was deep, so maybe, but considering his dad was angry with him for trying to get a job, that seemed unlikely.

“And your dad still cares about what you do for a living?”

The boy bit his lip, soft and full, “Um…”

“Look, I don’t care what you call yourself outside of these walls, but this is a mostly legal establishment, and I need some basic legal papers from you.”

The boy glared and pouted, eye glancing towards the stale cigarette left forgotten in Kai’s ashtray, “You were having sex in here with a worker, weren’t you?”

Kai glared back at the boy.

“I’m sure that wouldn’t play well for your reputation.”

“You don’t want to do this.”

“You establishment is already under surveillance. I could tell the authorities.”

“And how exactly do you plan to explain what you were doing here, underaged?”

“I’m not underaged.”

“Do you have an ID on you?”

“… no.”

Kai rubbed a hand over his face, sighing heavily, “Look, get me some official documentation, and I’ll talk to you Monday morning. Until then, you’re just going to have to wait.”

The boy stood up and nodded, taking the paperwork off the desk and rolling it up like a diploma. He walked towards the exit, this time making a point to step around the damp patch of carpet as he closed the door behind him with a slam.

Kai fell back in his chair, letting his body collapse against the faux leather. First day back, and he was already wondering what he’d have to take to let him sleep tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

He was hallucinating. He had to be. If he wasn’t, he was truly loosing his mind. He closed his eyes tighter, but it didn’t seem to help. If anything, it made everything worse, and the knocking got louder.

He sat up in his bed and stared at the mirror on his bedroom wall, at his own reflection who seemed just as pissed at him for trying to avoid answering the door as he was with whoever had decided to knock at this ungodly hour.

It took him another set of hammering on the door to make it over to get his slippers and robe, and when he opened the door, the impulse to slam it in the person’s face who he was greeted with was only diminished by the crimson trailing down the boys lip.

“I’m sorry,” the boy mumbled, a bubble of blood fighting its way out of his nose with his words. The tips of his purple hair looked black in the dim light and the arm of his suit was torn at the shoulder seam.

“Shit, what the fuck happened?”

“I exist,” the boy tried to laugh, but ended up coughing, blood dribbling out of his mouth.

“Get in here,” said Kai, because fuck him, he couldn’t just let the kid bleed out on his front step.

~

“How long has it been bleeding?”

“Fuck if I know.”

Kai sighed, handing the boy a clean towel, “Put pressure on it to stop the bleeding,”

The boy sat down on the edge of Kai’s tub, barely touching to towel to his face before pulling it a way with a hiss.

“Come on, you got to put pressure on it.”

The boy tried again, but pulled away, “Fuck that.”

Kai knelt down and took the towel from the boys hand, “Here.” He pressed the towel to the boys face, and the boy hissed again and turned his head away.

“Hurts.”

“It’ll hurt worse if you don’t let me do this.”

The boy crossed his arms, pouting in a way that made the blood bubble at the surface of his lip.

“What the hell even happened?”

“Just um, fell.”

“On your face?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Kai had been trying not to smile, because the whole thing was very serious, but the boy was being so obstinate it was getting ridiculous.

“You’re pretty.”

“What?”

“You’re pretty when you smile.”

Kai just sort of stared at the boy for a moment, trying his hardest not to smile and give into the compliment, but it wasn’t working very well and he quickly gave up, “Well, if you’re not going to tell me why you’re here or let me help you, maybe you could at least tell me your name?”

“Oh, um, I have your paperwork here, actually,” he opened his suit jacket and pulled out the folded paper. “And I got an ID,” he pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it over too. 

Kai looked at the ID and pursed his lips, “You’re fifteen, Takanori?”

“No…” the boy grabbed the card back from Kai. “Fuck.”

“It says you’re fifteen.”

“I know…” the boy reached into his other pocket and pulled out another card, looking at it before dropping it on the floor and kicking it under Kai’s bathmat.

“I can’t hire a fifteen year old,” Kai stood up and backed away from the boy.

“I know.”

“Why do you want this job so bad, anyway? It’s not like it’s a great job.”

“It’s not like it’s a bad job.”

Kai sat down on the edge of the tub next to Takanori, “I don’t know what is going on in your life, but I can tell you that the business of entertainment is merciless. And from the very little I know about you, it seems like you deserve a little mercy.”

The boy looked down at the floor and kicked the bathmat to expose the card he’d hidden under it, this one making him twenty instead of fifteen.

“You had a fake ID made.’

“Yeah,” the boy picked it up and ran his finger along the edge of it.

It was quite for a moment, the only sound the cars driving by outside. Kai watched the small finger run back and forth over the edge of the card, chipped black nail polish shining in the bathroom light.

“Are you tired?” Kai asked, looking at the head of purple hair.

“Yes.”

“Do you need a ride home?”

The boy waved his hand vaguely in front of his face.

“Do you need a place to sleep tonight?”

“Yes,” the boy mumbled to the floor, and Kai found himself smiling again, despite everything.

“We’ll have to clean you up then. Can’t have you getting blood on my pillows,” Kai nudged the boy lightly. “Did you loose any teeth?”

“I have all my teeth.”

“That’s good,” Kai stood up and offered the boy the towel again. “Hold this firmly against your lip, even if it hurts. I’ll be right back, okay?”

The boy took the towel and held it against his lip, not flinching away from the pain.

Kai smiled and turned towards the kitchen, getting an ice cube from the freezer with another towel. He was feeling a bit off balance. First he kisses a new employee, and now a fifteen year old wanted to work at his club. In a lot of ways, he knew it wasn’t a good idea, but he also knew the boy could pass for a little older. And the boy needed help getting a job. It’s not that Kai considered himself a man of charity or anything, and it’s not like he usually went out of his way to help people, but Kai liked the boy. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but Kai felt like the boy needed someone, and Kai liked the idea of being someone to someone like the boy. He closed the freezer and returned to the bathroom and took the towel away, handing the boy the one with the ice cube, “Looks like it’s stopped bleeding.”

“What’s this for?” The boy held up the towel.

“Sometimes sucking on ice helps reduce the swelling a little bit.”

“Oh. You want me to suck on it.”

“Yes.”

“Do you say that to boys often?”

Kai met the boy's eyes, “No. And even if I did I doubt your little mouth could handle me.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No, that’s me telling you you better fix up your mouth if you want to be a part of the Heresy Geisha Association.”

The boy stared up at him with wide eyes, “Wait, really?”

Kai smiled, “The bedroom is down the hallway and to your left. I’ll be on the couch in the front room if you need anything.” Kai closed the door behind him before the boy could protest any more and went to go get an extra pillow and blanket from the closet.


	7. Chapter 7

“Call me Ruki.”

“Okay,” Kai put down a cup of coffee and crepe covered in blueberry yogurt in front of Ruki. The boy took a sip of the coffee and regarded the food like it might bite him if he looked away. “You didn’t have to make me breakfast.”

“It’s not a problem. I like cooking.”

Ruki cupped the coffee in his hands.

“You should take a shower after this, though. And then you need to go home.”

“But I thought I was working today.”

“Just because you have a job doesn’t mean you’re working today.”

“Oh,” Ruki sat the coffee cup on the table.

Kai took a seat across from him. The cut on Ruki’s lip wasn’t bleeding, and didn’t look swollen either. It was sort of hard to tell from across the table though. The boys lips were full too, which made it harder to tell. Kai wasn’t looking at Ruki’s lips because they, were full, though. Kai just wanted to make sure it was healing okay and that the boy was keeping the cut clean. He’d have to see if he had antiseptic laying around somewhere.

“I have something I need to say.”

“Go ahead,” Kai said, taking a bite of his food.

Ruki shifted forward in his chair. “My parents disowned me. So I can’t go home. I had sort of set myself up in the sports center bathroom but someone reported me and if go back in there they’ll call the police. I was sleeping on the street yesterday night, and someone stole my backpack. I didn’t know what to do, and I knew you were nearby so…”

Kai took another bite of his food.

“I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble. I just really need a job so I can get things, somewhere I can start fresh and no one will ask me about my life outside of work.”

Kai’s chopsticks clinked against his plate as he captured a strawberry.

Ruki picked his coffee cup back up, enjoying the warmth in his hands and trying not to let on how afraid he was.

“Well…” Kai swallowed and sat his chopsticks across his empty plate, “I guess you could stay here. But I can’t let you host, no matter how sad your story is. My business is in enough trouble as it is.”

“But I thought you said I was a member of the Heresy Geisha Association.”

“I suppose I did,” Kai stood up and took his plate to the sink.

“Well, am I?”

Kai turned around and leaned back against the sink. Ruki was looking at Kai with narrow eyes over the top of his coffee cup. With his lip hidden by the cup, he looked okay, actually. Like the boy who had walked into his office this afternoon, so determined despite Kai’s reluctance. There was something Kai liked about that. “You are. You’re just not going to host yet.”

“But-“

“You will, just not until your lip heals. Even if some guys might be into that, I don’t want that getting infected. You want face scars to heal nicely in this industry.”

“Oh,” Ruki’s voice cracked a little bit and he took another drink of coffee. “What would I be doing in the meantime?”

Kai shrugged, “I don’t know. Help me in the back probably.”

“That’s vague.”

Kai crossed his arms, “Are you planning to eat?”

Ruki leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table, “Probably not.”

Kai pursed his lips and glared at the boys feet, willing then to return to the floor, “When was the last time you had a decent meal?”

Ruki swallowed more coffee and tapped his shoes against each other.

“How about if you at least try to eat, I get you something.”

The boy put his feel back on the floor, “Wait, you mean like take me shopping?”

“Maybe not take you, I do have some work to do before I open tonight, but I’ll give you some money so you can go get yourself what you’d like.”

The boy sat his coffee cup on the table and picked up his chopsticks, “Okay, but I’m not eating the strawberries.”

“Oh shit, you aren’t allergic, are you?”

“Oh no, I just don’t like them. I ate so many as a kid I threw them up once and it was an off-putting experience.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, now you know for next time.”

“Yeah,” Kai rubbed the top of his slipper against his shin, “next time.”

The boy grinned up at Kai, “This is actually really good.”

“Thanks,” Kai walked past the boy, “I’m going to find you something clean to change into after your shower, okay?”

“Okay,” the boy looked up at Kai, still smiling.

Kai smiled back.

“You’re pretty when you smile in the morning, too.”

Kai turned and left, trying not to think about the blush he could feel rising to his cheeks.

~

Fresh sheets, fresh towel, fresh clothes. The boy didn’t look too bad, and his face looked a little better. At least Ruki hadn’t broken his nose or something.

“You can take the train down to go shopping. I’m not spending over 9000 yen, though, so keep it reasonable. We’ll wash the clothes you have, and if you spend my money wisely, we should be able to come up with something smart for you.”

“Okay.” Ruki tugged at the bottom of Kai’s shirt. It was a little big, but it wasn’t bloodstained, so that was a plus.

“You don’t have to come back here, you can just meet me in my office.”

Ruki took the money Kai handed him and headed for the door.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yeah,” Ruki slammed the door behind him.

Kai glanced over to the kitchen table and the plate of strawberries Ruki had left behind. He sighed and headed over to clean it up. 

_It was kind of nice, wasn’t it? Having company around for breakfast. Maybe be should-_

Kai shook the half formed thought from his mind and scraped the fruit into the trash.

_The boy_.

Hard as Kai scrubbed at the dishes and tried to think of him as Takanori or Ruki, it wasn’t sinking in. He was _the boy_. He just was.

Kai decided to write it off as being because the bo- no, Ruki, was the youngest person he’d talked to in years.

As he dried of the chopsticks, he wasn’t sure that he was entirely convinced that was the reason, though.

He needed something else to think about, and Kai decided going to the office early and sorting through the outfits he had in the back was his best bet. He’d wanted to clean up a bit anyway, make sure everything was in order before customers showed up tonight.

As he dried out the coffee mug, Kai saw a ring sitting on the table. It was thick and sliver, engraved with a swirled pattern of leaves. He picked it up and turned it over in his damp hand. It was probably the b- Ruki’s.

He put it in his pocket and dried off his hands, picking up his phone and keys and putting them in his pocket, too. Maybe the weight of work would distract him from the weight of the ring against his thigh.

~

Being in the club during the daytime was one of Kai’s favorite things. There was a static quality to the air, like an old library no one went to anymore, a place that was frozen in the time between one night and the next. The red velvet curtains were more like rust than blood and the stage lights slept hanging upside down like bats all in a row. The colors were more pure, the pole more gold, the tables clearer. And the silence, too, loud not with voices but with stories. Kai felt more at home here than he did at his own home. The silence was less lonely.

Back behind the stage wasn’t as homey. The mirrored walls surrounded with lightbulbs put him on edge, reminded him there was work to be done.

And boy was there work to be done.

The clothing, which was supposed to be hanging on the racks along the far wall, was in lumps of fabric on the floor, and the makeup made a mosaic across the desks. Kai picked up the bundle nearest him and discovered what he thought was just fishnets was actually fishnets and lace panties knotted together. 

_First laundry, then everything else._

Kai nodded to himself, hugging the clothes in armfuls to his chest and deciding there was nothing to worry about when he knew all the health records he had were clean.

~

A trip home and back left him putting clean laundry away, holding each item up in dimming light and trying to imagine his hosts and hostesses in them. Most of his girls had their outfits they usually wore, and he sat those on the racks labelled with their names and took off the labels of the girls he’d lost over the last month or two. It was pretty mindless until he thought about a name he was crumpling up and tossing to the side.

_Aya_

Right.

Kai was trying not to think about the man who shared that girls last name. And he was trying not to think about the boy who was spending his money on clothing somewhere. And yet he was trying to choose outfits for them.

It was all very confusing.

He started with Akira first, and quickly found he didn’t have much interesting. A suit, maybe, but even that didn’t really seem the boys style. Maybe for the first part of the evening, but Kai didn’t really want Akira to be a first part of the evening kind of guy. He sat a suit aside just in case, but he told himself he’d give it to someone else if he couldn’t find anything for them.

Aoi was more fun. A suit for the beginning of the night was a no-brainer. It would put both Aoi and the customers in their comfort zones for the first night. Kimonos also seemed like a fun idea. He put aside a delicate white one with lotus lined with an orange fabric with child-like flowers. The combination of the garment was perfect for both sophisticated but fun players and would go with the more traditional geisha image Kai liked to play with. Tied in place with a red diamond stash layered with a black lotus one would give it a bit of edge that made Kai feel content with it. He sat aside a cheap shiny gold and black disposable one too in case Aoi’s night went traditional. As the night went on, the clothing got less extravagant. Alcohol and sex aren’t exactly a recipe for keeping clothes in good condition. Assuming things went less traditional, Kai found himself looking through the crop tops. He wasn’t certain it would work, but if the man had the right build, Kai intended to use skin exposure to his advantage. And if not, there was always the suit to fall back on.

He skipped over the boy, figuring he’d keep the kid back stage for the time being. He might have to get new clothes to fit the kid, anyway. He was smaller in build then most of the clothing he had leant itself to. His mind was unhelpfully trying to suggest a pair of fishnets, but Kai pushed the thought aside and moved onward.

Not that it helped him feel much better. After all, Uruha made him look to the taller clothes not in use, and a lot of those clothes belonged to someone else. Purple shirts with small chains and black feather skirts all made him feel a little off. Was it an insult to have Uruha wear his sister’s old clothes? An honor? Kai hoped it didn’t matter, and took a deep breath of practicality.

Uruha was a pretty one, Kai had no doubts about that. The shorts he’d worn had shown a nice set of thighs, and Kai decided emphasizing them with a garter belt simply made sense. Never mind who was the last girl to wear the thing.

Kai would have to go up to his office to e-mail Uruha about the suit, and assuming things went the classical route, his sisters kimono would probably fit him just fine.

Kai hung the kimono on the rack and headed up to his office, ready to send out reminder e-mails about the first day back and see if any members had any questions about tonight. He was excited, but nervous. Hosts might not be a positive, but Kai had high hopes everything would be fine as he left back stage. As he rounded the welcome desk, his mind drifted to Uruha.

_She always said you were the gayest hostess club owner she’d ever met._

Kai’s brain hadn’t been fully functioning at the time so he hadn’t really processed the statement, but he wondered about it now. People talked, he knew that, but he’d always tried to keep himself separate from his job. But here he was connecting himself to it, even if it was only in this tiny way. It was terrifying, and so far it was already messing with his life a little more than he had hoped. After all, work had just spent the night at his house in the form of a rather small boy.

_It’s karma for lying to your mother_.

Kai smiled at nothing in particular, laughing at his own joke and opening up his laptop in his office. 

_Everything will be fine,_ he told himself, opening up his e-mail.

_Fuck you you Ass-Fucker!!!_

Kai ignored the e-mail title and hit compose instead.

_Nothing to worry about._ He started typing in Uruha’s e-mail address from the paperwork on the table next to him, tapping his foot to the beat of slight anxiety.

 

_Good afternoon Uruha,_

_Hope you’re excited to get started today! I’m just wondering if you have a suit you can wear for the first part of the evening. Please let me know as soon as possible._

_Thank you,_

_Kai_

 

He hit send and tried not to wish he’d included an apology for not getting Uruha off the other day, too. He’d have to make it up to him somehow. Maybe invite him over for lunch tomorrow or something.

Is that something you do to apologize for failing to reciprocate a handjob? Kai wasn’t sure.

~

“Hello?”

Aoi bowed slightly as he entered, and Kai smiled up from cleaning off the bar and setting up the drink menu for the evening.

“I have a girl coming in in just a few minutes to teach you some dancing, but we can get started if you want.”

Aoi walked over to the bar, coy smile on his face, “Sure.”

Kai smiled back, throwing the bar rag over his shoulder, “Okay, you want to start with the dance or the outfit?”

“Dance, I think.”

“Okay then, this way,” Kai got out from behind the bar and jumped up jumped up onto the stage.

“That’s not terribly far away from the audience.”

“It’s not supposed to be.”

“Oh,” Aoi rubbed his hand behind his neck, which was tied up in a ponytail.

“I’m going to recommend you take off your shoes and socks for this.”

Aoi slipped off his shoes and socks, leaving them at the base of the stage before climbing up and standing next to Kai. The first thing Kai noticed is that he smelled faintly like he had just walked out of a tea shop.

“You aren’t wearing lotion or body oil, are you?”

“No, why?” Aoi stepped on his left foot with his right.

“You um… no reason,” Kai inhaled deeply anyway, trying to be quiet about it and breathe easy. He felt relaxed against the neutral, earthy white tea scent, his nerves about the evening instantly calming. Whatever happened this evening, Kai was sure it would be okay.

“Sorry, I put on some cologne before I came. It’s not too much, is it?”

“No, it’s… nice,” Kai grabbed the pole and took at step forward, “Let’s start with something basic. Just wrapping your leg around the outside,” Kai lifted his leg and wrapped it about the pole, lifting himself a little ways off the ground with his arms. He arched back, casting a smile over his shoulder to Aoi. “Just like that. Now you try,” Kai hopped down from the pole, pushing away from it.

“Um, I’m not sure I got that.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it.”

“Okay…” Aoi stared up at the pole, scratching his ankle with his toe again.

“You gotta touch the thing first, though.”

“Right,” Aoi took a step forward, putting his hand on the pull.

“Ever done a pull up?” Kai rounded the pole so he could see Aoi’s face.

“Um, yeah…” Aoi’s hand gripped the pole tighter.

“It’s the same muscles.”

Aoi nodded. Kai shook his head and took a step forward, lowering his voice, “There’s no use in white-knuckling the thing. It’ll only make your hands sweaty, and that’s no good for your grip.”

Aoi relaxed his hand a little bit, but not as much as Kai would have liked.

“It’s not going to work unless you relax.”

“I am relaxed,” Aoi gritted through his teeth.

“Have you never had sex before? Jesus,” Kai put his hand over Aoi’s. “Nothing good happens when you don’t trust yourself, okay? Don’t think about it, you just have to do it. I know it’s not an easy thing to do when you want to impress someone, but people are actually more impressed when things are natural. That’s when the real magic happens.”

Aoi met Kai’s eyes for a moment before looking back to Kai’s hand on top of his own, “I’ve had sex before.”

“Good for you,” Kai took a step back. “Now relax your hand like you would for a lover, and take a step towards the pole like this, but keep your arm straight,” Kai stepped next to Aoi as he did as he was told. “Now take a step back, and swing that leg forward around the pull.”

Aoi did, hard enough the pole shook slightly.

“Good. Now do the same thing, but really fast and do a pull up, or climb a rope while you’re doing that.”

Aoi did, making it maybe a centimeter above the ground before slipping down. “Ow!”

“You okay?”

Aoi just gritted his teeth and nodded, staring at the pole like a child does a cat that just scratched them.

“It’ll take a few tries.”

The door opened with a chime and a girl stepped in, hair in bright green waves bouncing with each step.

“Hey Kai!”

“Arika!” Kai waved his hand for the girl to come over, “Come teach this boy how to dance!”

Arika giggled, dropping the gym bag she carried at the base of the stage, “I don’t know Kai, he looks like a man next to you.”

Kai rolled his eyes and Aoi looked down at the girl with a smile, “I’d like to think of myself as a gentleman.”

“Oh?” The girl held her hands out in front of her, bouncing on her toes, “Would you please help me up, sir?”

Aoi reached down and took her hands while Kai rolled his eyes at the scene before him. “Like you need help from anyone.”

“Only from pretty men,” Arika looked Aoi’s way with wide, flirtatious eyes before turning to Kai with a bubbly bounce in her heel. “Not that you’re not pretty. You’re just not my type of pretty.”

“And he is?”

Arika smiled at Kai for a moment before grabbing the pole and Aoi’s hand, “So I’m going to show you a couple tricks of the trade. It takes a lot of muscle, but you seem to have something to work with,” she glanced down, revealing eyelids dusted with green and gold.

“How can you tell?” Aoi was smiling, the kind of smile of a man who expects girls to comment on how strong they are.

Kai hopped down from the stage and made his way back over to the bar, slipping the towel off his shoulder and back into his hand, tuning out the words behind him until Aoi’s voice caught his ear. Kai turned around, crossing his arms and letting the rag grace his elbow, “What was that?”

“I think she doesn’t give you enough credit. You’ve got to be one tough cookie not to cringe when your balls hit the metal at full force.”

“Or he just doesn’t have a dick,” Arika shrugged and turned away, but Kai was certain she was hiding the permeant smile the girl wore. Kai had never seen her without it. It was one of the things Kai could count on. 

“I don’t know, have you seen how his pants fit?”

“Have you been looking?”

“Uh, no,” Aoi rolled his eyes and put his own hand on the pole above Arika’s. “I’m not gay or anything.”

“Right,” Arika shook her head, green waves weaving their way into one another in a soft tangle. Her voice lowered as she craned her neck to whisper in Aoi’s ear, voice too low for Kai to catch their words.

He clearly hadn’t thought this whole thing through. It’s not like it was awful that the two were getting on, but Kai really wasn’t sure that employee relationships were a great idea. Then again, it’s not like they were doing it in front of customers. And there was a chance customers might find it hot. Availability isn’t always as hot as watching a could-be couple interact. Sometimes that was hot too. And Kai wasn’t one to judge people who liked to watch. Or to judge his employees if they found each other hot. So Kai gave the two their privacy to learn and teach while he tried to decide if he could pass off expired cranberry juice as wine.

~

“And give the girls this or water,” Kai sat the cranberry juice in front of Ruki.

_You two look soooooo good in suits!_ There was a chorus of giggles from backstage, and Kai was tempted to knock himself out with the vodka bottle sitting on the shelf next to him. He didn’t, but he thought about it. He was beginning to suspect he’d be thinking about it a lot this evening.

He glanced at the clock, realizing opening was in ten minutes and he still hadn’t briefed everyone on the plans for the evening. That, and he was still waiting on someone. Someone a tiny portion of his brain was glad he didn’t have to deal with yet.

Maybe drinking the vodka would be more effective.

Ruki leaned bent over to get something from under the bar, and Kai found himself looking down. He was dressed casual in a baggy sweater with a fuckboy hat and douchebag sunglasses inside, and Kai really wanted to hate the outfit, but it actually looked really nice. Especially the way the jeans the boy wore hugged his hips and-

Maybe the vodka was just a bad idea altogether.

How he had been talked into letting a fifteen-year-old bartend, Kai really wasn’t sure. For some reason it had made complete sense at the time. Now he was beginning to regret his life.

“Right, so if you’re okay here, I’m going to make sure everyone is ready in the back. And if you see the man you caught me-“ Kai pinched the bridge of his nose as he was interrupted but a clatter Kai couldn’t quite identify the source of.

“I know what you mean, Kai. Just go deal with the children in the back.”

“Yeah,” Kai found himself rushing towards the back, trying not to let the warm, deep chuckled behind him affect him in any way. He needed help, honestly. In many ways. Too many way.

“Alright ladies!” Kai clapped his hands together as he peered behind the curtain, “and gentlemen.”

“Gentlemen!” One of the girls shouted and the other ones giggled. Again. The giggling was likely to be the last sound he ever heard.

“Right, so obviously the main difference about tonight is the addition of a few young men here. Besides that, though, I want tonight to go like normal. Arika has some way to use one of the men in a show tonight in a minor role, but besides that, it’s business as usual. And for those of you that don’t know what that means, that means hosting till the show roles around. After the show, I close to non-heresy members. When the show ends, you’ll put on your second outfit. I’m going with a traditional geisha theme for the evening. Then, it’s back to hosting. I’ll let you know who requests you at this point and their band color. You can always decline an offer, and I want to remind you that declining an offer and then pursuing the offer outside of the Red Motel is not permitted and can result in removal from the Geisha list.” Kai glanced out. The room was crowded with ten girls and the two men right in the middle of it all. Reita had been just as well dressed as Kai had hoped, and he was excited to see where having a host like that would take him. He was hopeful, excited, and nervous. And anxiously awaiting his thirteenth member.

“Kai?” Ruki poked his head behind the curtain.

“Yeah?”

“He’s here.”

Kai nodded, waving Ruki away and looking back to his… escorts? Was that gender-neutral? Kai thought it sounded nice. “Right, so I have one more new host to get set up, but you guys need to get lined up for the beginning of the evening. I’m expecting some customers in a few minutes.” Kai stepped back from behind the curtain, chorus of voices chattering behind him, and stepped right into a very tall man who smell distinctly of sake.

“Oh, hello.”

“Uruha?”

“Yeah, you okay?”

Kai took an extra step away from the curtain, “Where the hell have you been!? We open in five minutes!”

“Sorry, got held up. Also, there’s a few guys waiting outside your door.”

“Yeah, did you not hear me? We open in five minutes!”

Uruha held a ringed finger to Kai’s lips and shook his head, “Shhhhhh, there’s no need to shout.”

Kai grabbed Uruha’s wrist, moving the man’s finger away from his mouth, “This is your first day, and you’re late! I have every reason-“

Uruha leaned forward a bit, and Kai tightened his grip on Uruha’s wrist, other hand finding its way to Uruha’s chest to keep him at bay. It turned out Uruha was a bit heavier then Kai was expecting. The man fell forward, and one set of lips found another. It was a drunk kiss, the kind that was trying to impress with its abilities so much it forgot to share any feelings at all. It wasn’t as disappointing as it sounds, though, because _boy_ did those lips have some _ablities_. Kai let Uruha move his lips against Kai’s for a moment before he gave in and parted his lips, letting Uruha’s tongue slide over his own. He brushed the tip of his tongue over the roof of Kai’s mouth. Rough as it all was, there was a delicacy to the way he moved his tongue. It was almost refined, if a kiss could be called such a thing. Kai could feel a groan bubbling in his chest, but pushed back with his hand on Uruha’s chest, holding Uruha’s soft lips at bay along with the groan.

“Your bartender is pretty,” Uruha eyes and smile looked glazed, and Kai found it tempting to take a second taste before Uruha bent over and vomited at Kai’s feet.

Kai found himself avoiding the vomit by gripping the mans bicep with both hands, trying to figure out what to do, “Ruki!”

“You seem to have gotten yourself into quite the pickle there.” The boy was leaning over the bar, propping his face up in his hands with a smirk stretched under those ridiculous sunglasses.

“I am your boss, you know. Some respect would be nice.”

“Mmmhmm,” Ruki got out from behind the bar. He seemed to be taking it upon himself to put Uruha’s arm on his shoulder, giving the vomit a quizzical glance, then looking up at Uruha with a smile as the man met his eyes, “I’m the pretty bartender.”

“Do I know you?” The space between Uruha’s eyebrows scrunched up to look like the wrinkles on a pitbull.

Ruki looked back to Kai over the top of his sunglasses, “Take him upstairs?”

“Yeah.”

“Count of three?”

Kai nodded, and Uruha’s head fell forward, loose like an old over-loved stuffed animal.

“Count with me Uruha? One-“ Ruki nudged Uruha’s ribs and he joined in.

“Two, three.”

They managed to trudge upstairs, Ruki whispering to Uruha the whole way things Kai couldn’t quite make out over the general chaos he heard from downstairs. When they made it to his office and closed the door behind him, Ruki had Uruha lay on the floor on his side and then stood up and looked over to Kai.

“I have to get things running downstairs.”

“I know.”

“Can I trust you with him?”

Ruki smiled and looked down at Uruha, “What do you think, Uruha? Can he trust us?”

“No.”

Kai buttoned his sleeve, “Good enough.”

“What about the bar?”

“Usually I deal with the drinks, so no worries.”

Ruki nodded, “Okay. I’ll take good care of him.”

Kai shook the wrinkles out of his sleeve, “I’ll be back up after I clean off the carpet and open, so no worries.”

“Right,” Ruki waved and turned towards Uruha, sitting on the ground as Kai closed the door behind him and made his way back downstairs.

He was greeted with a circle of escorts around the vomit on the floor, all shouting amongst themselves. Kai clapped his hands, and everyone got quiet.

“Take a step back, please. Soon as I get this cleaned up, we’re opening. And you may have to get your own drinks tonight if things get busy.”

For the most part people stepped back, only one brave girl brave enough to ask, “Did the new host come in drunk?”

“He’s honestly none of your business right now,” Kai pushed his way behind the bar to get the cleaning supplies from under the sink.

“Is he going to stay?”

Kai slammed the cabinet shut, the bang making a few of the girls jump, “I haven’t decided, honestly. I just need to clean this up so we can open. Would someone mind getting the throw carpet from the back, please?”

A small girl with long black hair disappeared behind the curtain.

“Right,” Kai made his way back to the carpet and crouched down, the escorts dispersing with hushed and rough whispers. His shirt felt tighter in places he didn’t appreciate all the sudden, and he shifted uncomfortably like a snake itchy in old skin. He knew no one knew, but he still felt like Uruha’s name was written on his forehead or like someone was just waiting for him to slip up. Actually, someone probably was. Lucky for Kai the man in question was locked in the office. With his new employee that he’d fucked. And had come in drunk. 

Kai licked his lips. Kai tried not to enjoy the taste, but it didn’t seem to be working. It was like when he had one piece of chocolate more than he’d told himself he was supposed to - pleasure in the moment of disobeying his own rule that melted into guilt as soon as the chocolate turned soft on his tongue.

He got off his hands and knees, and gestured for the door, “Go ahead, do the honors.”

And with a soft click and buzz, a girl with faded and frayed hair brought the neon outside to life.


	8. Chapter 8

The first couple were regulars who greeted Kai with a bow and a request for the usual, but around eleven he got a visit from someone new, hair a little disheveled and suitcase still in hand. He wiped his hands on his pants and kept his gaze low as he greeted Kai.

“Good evening.”

“Hey,” Kai slid the tablet across the welcome desk, “Welcome to the Red Motel.”

“Ah, thanks,” the man took the tablet from Kai, who smiled and started his usual spiel, “That’s just an agreement that the girls have a final say in everything that happens here. If you make one of them uncomfortable and I find out about it, you’re out of here. That, and don’t push for more then you payed for. If you want to find out more about our late night options, I’m happy to share.”

“Ah…” the man put down the stylist, “Yeah, tell me more.”

Kai leaned over the desk, “We end the night with a special performance. And after that, you can test the girls limits, if you want. You’ll have to buy a wristband, though. Or become a member. We can do a trial night tonight, if you want.”

“Ah, can I see my options?”

“What do you mean?”

The man shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, “When you say girls, um…”

“Ohhhhhh,” Kai shook his head, “I mean hostess and hosts. Though we only have two tonight.”

“Can I be introduced to one of them?”

“Yes, of course. Just give me a minute,” Kai left the entrance and saw the boys sitting over at the bar. “Hey! Boys!” The two turned their heads over their shoulders in unison, “You’ve got a request!” And with a little scuffling, the two made their way over.

“Got a preference?” The two boys followed Kai and stood awkwardly near the podium for a moment before Aoi seemed to remember what he was doing.

“Hey, I’m Aoi,” Aoi bowed and smilied, “I imagine you’re probably tired after such a long day. We should go sit down with a drink,” Aoi reached towards the man, who took a step back.

“I think I’ll take the one with the noseband.”

Akira smiled and stepped forward into the dim light, offering his upper arm to the man, “Call me Reita.”

“Okay, Reita,” the man wrapped a hand around Reita’s arm and let himself be guided into the club.

“Damn.”

“Sorry man. Can’t blame the guy, though.”

“Oh?” Aoi turned to Kai and raised a stenciled eyebrow.

“That’s not to say you did anything wrong,” Kai put down the stylist and tablet.

“I know I didn’t. I was referring to the fact he chose Reita, not the fact that he didn’t choose me.”

“Huh?” Kai narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“What, is Reita your type?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, would you choose Reita over me?”

Kai sighed and shook his head, “I mean, I never said I was into men.”

“Oh, I guess not,” Aoi rubbed the back of his neck, “I mean, I’m not gay, either.”

“You do realize what I hired you to do, right?”

“Um, yeah.”

Kai stepped down from behind the welcome desk, “Look, if your game is to play this gig straight, I can tell you right now you aren’t going to make any money here, because the money is in the sex. And if you’re uncomfortable doing that part of the job, your nights here will quickly become worse than hell itself. You don’t want that, and I definitely don’t want to put you through that. So tell me Aoi, are you straight?”

“I mean, I’ve never been with a man before.”

“And does the idea of kissing a man repulse you?”

Aoi took a step closer to Kai. “Does it repulse you?”

“No,” Kai found his eyes draw to Aoi’s. In the dim light they looked almost like little peals of obsidian.

“Cool,” Aoi kissed Kai, none too softly, either. His lips were rough and demanding in their pressure, and Kai found himself torn between response and surprise. Aoi seemed to decide for him though, one hand finding Kai’s waist and pulling him closer and Kai found himself giving in. Again.

The first thing Kai noticed was that Aoi used the same brand of toothpaste Kai did. That, and his lips were chapped. Those thoughts were driven away though when Aoi’s tongue licked at Kai’s lip, and he let himself enjoy the feeling, following it until he found his own tongue sliding between Aoi’s tongue and the soft muscle of the inside of his cheek.

Kai grunted and turned to pin Aoi to the welcome desk. The man huffed and broke from the kiss with a flushed smile, grinning as he rolled his hips up to meet Kai.

“Fuck,” Kai rolled his hips back to meet Aoi, who in turn thrusted back with a groan. Kai met his eyes for a moment, and his pupils were dark, eyes unfocused. He looked out of it, but in a good way. Kai felt kind of proud, and closed his eyes to kiss him again.

Aoi kissed back, less reserved this time. He was all tongue and saliva, but not in a I’m-an-octopus-who’s-trying-to-drown-you kind of way. I was more of a I-think-it’s-time-we-got-to-know-each-other-real-well kind of kiss. Kai felt a little out of his depth, honestly. Not like he had with Uruha, but more like it was obvious this guy was way more sexually experienced than Kai was, and he was expecting things Kai wasn’t sure he could deliver on. But he tried to anyway, tangling his tongue with Aoi’s and taking him by the hips. Aoi seemed to melt into it, instantly letting Kai take over the setting of the pace. It felt desperate and ridiculous like a teenager, yet refined and practiced all at once, and Kai absolutely loved every place they touched.

“Don’t stop,” Aoi ground back against Kai, legs spreading as Kai thrusted back. Kai panted, taking in how beautiful he was like this. There was something beautiful about everyone like this, in Kai’s opinion. And everyone was so wildly different, which was part of what made it all so exciting. He felt privileged, working with people at their most genuine, their most alive. Because at the end of the day, complex words could only say so much. This though, the heat between one grind and the next, that said so much more.

Aoi gripped Kai’s biceps, grinding harder now, and Kai rose up to meet him every time. He gripped Aoi’s shirt, untucking it from his pants and sliding his hands up to feel his bare skin, the way his muscles stained and relaxed in the sexiest places.

“I need, I need you to, I-“

“Are you going to come right here, Aoi? Right here, where anyone could walk in, where anyone could see you, begging another man to bring you what you want?”

“I’m gonna die,” Aoi’s breaths were labored now, heavy and shallow, and Kai kissed him again. He couldn’t not, with his lips slick as they were now, sliding between his own with such ease, desperately trying to feel every inch of them with his own sensitive mouth.

Aoi broke away again, breath hot on Kai’s jawline, “I’m going to come, I-“

“Go ahead, Aoi. Just like you are, go ahead.”

Aoi groaned, eyes closed and lashes dusting his cheekbones, and Kai leaned forward to kiss him again, deciding it would be better if they came together.

~

“So you are gay.”

“And so are you.”

Aoi laughed, throwing his head back as Kai buttoned up his fresh pair of pants, “And you’re a good kisser.”

“Thanks,” Kai straightened his suit for the third time that evening.

“We should uh, we should do that again.”

Kai put his hands out in front of him, looking at the pattern of the bathroom tile to avoid looking at anything else, “We should be professional about this.”

“What do you…” Aoi paused, his voice falling away into the tile, “oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, I’m not trying to say you’re skeevy or anything, it’s just that…” Aoi sighed, seemingly annoyed with his own inability to form sentences. “I don’t know, you seemed like you would.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, I’m sorry.”

“Right, well, if you don’t have anything more to say about this, you should go get ready for the performance tonight.”

“Uh, yeah…” Aoi left, but just as Kai turned around to take a look in the mirror, he heard the door creak open again.

“What is it, Aoi?”

“Um, can we maybe meet up after close? I can help clean and stuff, if you want.”

“Hm, do you like coffee?”

Aoi smiled. “Yeah.”

“Cool. We could do that.”

“Sweet,” Aoi threw a smile over his shoulder. It was the same smile he gave Arika earlier. Kai wasn’t sure how he felt about that, and he decided not knowing how he felt about it was probably for the best.

He knew he needed to check on Ruki and Uruha, but he hadn’t had a chance. That, and he was pretty sure he had a ring to return to Ruki. Not that it was a big deal or anything. Ruki wouldn’t miss it if he kept it till the end of the night, right?

Kai pulled the ring out of his pocket to look at while he headed back to man the front entrance. It was pretty in a masculine sort of way. It was big, too, and heavy. Kai put it on his index finger and it fit pretty well. He had seen Ruki’s hands, and they were small with slender fingers. Maybe this wasn’t Ruki’s ring. Then again, if it wasn’t, who’s was it?

Kai made it back to the front desk and sat the ring down on it as the door opened, introducing a less familiar face.

“Good evening, and welcome to the Red Motel.”

The man was older, hair salted with gray. He was another one who had clearly just come straight from work, but looked a bit more put together. A boss then, maybe. Which for Kai meant good money, if he played his cards right, “Good evening.”

“I have some nice company for you this evening, and our show starts in a bit, if you’d like. Here’s our list,” Kai held the tablet out over the table.

The man glanced over it quickly, “Aoi, please.”

“Ah, yes. He’s in our performance tonight. If you’d like, I can get you a table with a good view of him.”

“Yes, of course.”

Kai selected Aoi’s picture and swiped for the contract, “And this is just saying you agree to respect your host for the evening.”

The man looked over it quickly and signed.

“Okay, follow me,” Kai set the tablet on the desk alongside the ring and headed behind the curtain.

“This way sir,” Kai made his way to a table near the edge of the stage at the front, “He’ll be on soon. Would you like a drink in the meantime?”

The man picked something heavy in gin and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, setting them on the table while Kai left to pour the customer’s poison of choice.

Reita was at the bar himself, pouring a beer with such focus and style Kai almost wanted to laugh, but he instead just broke into a smile as he swiped the gin off the back shelf. 

Reita stared at Kai anyway. “What?”

“Nothing,” Kai took a glass off the shelf. “You’re doing great.”

“Thanks,” Reita waited for the head of the drink to die down before pouring a bit more to fully fill the glass. 

“You think he’s into you?”

“Maybe. I think he’s nervous, but I’m working on that.”

“Nice,” Kai poured his own drink, casting Reita another smile.

“You’ve got a nice smile, by the way.”

Kai let himself laugh this time, putting the gin back on the shelf, “I’ve heard that one before.”

“That’s because it’s true,” Reita left the bar and headed back over to his conquest for the evening.

Kai found himself watching the man walk away, broad stride emphasized by his puffed-out chest. He was all muscle, and it was appealing, sure, but intimidating. And maybe not totally great for conversation. Kai was pretty sure it’d be okay, though. It’s not like the guy was totally socially inept. If nothing else, he’d left Kai with something to think about. Plus, his voice was nice, the kind you could get lost in the tone and he didn’t have to saying any words at all, really. Kai took the drink from the bar and went over to his own conquest.

“Let me know if you need anything, sir. I’m just behind the curtain,” Kai gestured to the exit, and the man nodded, motioning for Kai to leave.

Kai felt his phone buzz in his pocket and took it out, reading a text message.

 

_he’s unconscious and he stop breathing for awhile idk what to do o_o_

 

_How the fuck did he get my number?_ Kai stuffed his phone back in his pocket and quickly made his way back to the entrance, stopping to flip off the neon light before rushing up the stairs.

Ruki was standing at the top of the stairs, Kai’s office door propped open with his boot, “He’s awake now, but I’m not sure for how long.”

Kai pushed past Ruki. Uruha was staring at the carpet blankly, but he smiled when Kai walked in. Kai crouched down next to Uruha.

“Hey there.”

“Hi,” Uruha’s eyes tried to close, and Kai poked him in response.

“I’m going to get you some water, okay?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Water is cold.”

“Water and a blanket then?”

“You have blankets?”

“I have beds, Uruha. I don’t expect people to fuck on the floor.”

“Classy place.”

“You bet it is,” Kai got up and headed back to the door where Ruki was standing.

“His lips are blue. Are they supposed to be blue?” Ruki’s sunglasses had found their way into the forest of purple on his head, and his eyes showed how worried he was as he looked past Kai to Uruha lying on the floor.

“No, Ruki.”

Ruki bit his lip.

“He’s in a bad way, but I think we’re probably past the worst of it. I say we keep him hydrated.”

“He’s thrown up a lot.”

“That’s a good thing. That means he’s getting the poison out of his system. I’ll be back with a blanket and some water. And I mean right back. Not like I said earlier.”

Ruki nodded, teeth stilling digging into his lip.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kai put a hand on the boys upper-arm.

Ruki looked up at Kai, “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Kai held on tighter.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Ruki shrugged his shoulder out of Kai’s grip and they traded places, Ruki going to Uruha and Kai leaving to find water and a blanket.

Downstairs, there was the curtain of course, but there also a door shoved a ways back that lead to a hallway. Kai opened the door, and he had two choices. One lead to the dressing room he knew very well, and the other side of the hall had six doors that opened into small rooms. The first two had bed and a classic set-up. The other four, well… there were other ways to have sex.

He went into to the second bedroom, into the closet and took down a blanket as well as a water bottle from the mini-fridge in the corner of the closet. And to anyone who judged, Kai said hydration after sex and alcohol is always important.

He slipped back up the stairs, music loud from the main part of the club, and entered his office to find Uruha sitting up and leaning against his desk, Ruki sitting criss-cross in front of him.

“Hey guys. I come with gifts,” Kai went over and knelt down next to Ruki, handing Uruha the blanket and water bottle.

“He’s a god, Ruki. A magic spirit who has come to help me un-fuck myself.”

Ruki laughed. It was a deep laugh, a man’s laugh. That was the thing about Ruki, his voice sounded like he was much older than he was. That alone made Kai believe he could get away with working here.

Uruha took a sip of the water, pulling the blanket up over his chest, “Well, I guess he can fuck me up, too.”

Ruki laughed harder, throwing his head back and leaning back on his hands.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking about it.”

Ruki just shook his head. “You’re drunk, Uruha.”

“I don’t know, I might be more sober than I look,” he winked at Ruki with that, and handed the water bottle back to Kai. “No, but really, thanks.”

“No problem. I should go see how the show is getting on. I’ll probably need to wrap things up.”

Uruha nodded, “You gave me warmth, so you can do whatever you like.”

Kai stood back up with a groan, “Next time you make an innuendo I’m going to give you the oldest, most boring bastard I can find to deal with for the evening.”

“Oo, does this mean I still have a job?”

“Yes, and I’m leaving before I change my mind,” Kai headed for the door, and reached for his pocket to find his phone was gone.

“Ruki, give me back my phone.”

“Oh, sorry,” Ruki stood up and handed Kai his phone.

“If you pick-pocket anyone here, you’re fired, do you understand? Consider this a warning.”

“Okay. On the bright side, you have Uruha’s number now.”

“Do you have to meddle in everything?”

Ruki clapped Kai on the shoulder. “Only when you won’t do it for yourself.”

Kai sighed, and grabbed the doorknob, “I should fire both of you,” and with that, Kai left the two trouble-makers to themselves.


	9. Chapter 9

Blue, purple, red, a sea of it jumbled in a cool, metal basket, indifferent and uncaring. Kai was about to change that, making each color hot and filled with meaning. He was in control here, and it was kind of amazing.

He sold a few bands, but a lot of people already had the little rings of silicone that were their ticket to the girls they so desired. When Aoi walked up to the bar, smile on his face, Kai had high hopes he was about to sell another band.

“A gin and a water, please,” Kai slid the water across the table and went to get the gin off the shelf. Honestly, he should probably just give the man the whole bottle.

“Any luck?”

“Huh?”

“Any luck with your guy?”

“Oh, ah, no. I don’t know, he just talks about his job and has me light his cigars, really. Which is okay. I mean, it’s not nothing.”

“Shame,” Kai handed Aoi the gin and turned around to put the gin back on the shelf. When he turned around again, Aoi was still standing there, glass in hand.

“You think he’s wasting me?”

“What?” Kai took the towel off his shoulder and wiped down the ring of condensation off the bar.

“I don’t think he’s wasting me. I think he just knows I’m worth the wait.”

Kai shook his head. “Go back to work, Aoi.”

Aoi left, and Kai decided he had never met a set of men more full of themselves than the ones he had somehow managed to hire. He casted a glance to Reita, watching as he and the man talked in hushed voices, beer glasses lining up on the table next to them. Well, maybe not all of them were full of themselves. Kai still had some hope left he had hired a least one decent man.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he snuck a quick glance,

 

_He wants to sleep is that a good idea idk i don’t want him to die…_

 

Kai sighed and checked his watch. 

 

_Let him sleep. Maybe you can help me down here? He’s probably fine._

 

“Hey,” Arika waved her hand between Kai and his phone screen.

He put his phone back in his pocket. “Yes?”

“Can you get me that wine again?”

“Oh, is he here?”

“Yeah, didn’t you check him in?”

“Yeah. Sorry, it’s just been a long night,” Kai took a wine off the shelf, one that only got used for one customer. He was a demanding guy, and he always wanted the same, ridiculously expensive wine.

“You’re telling me. Aoi did great, by the way.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I noticed you disappear.”

“Ah,” Kai poured the wine and handed it to Arika.

Arika took the wine. “Anyway, he was really good. He and I are going to practice again in the afternoon. Maybe you could open up the place for us and take a watch”

“Uh, yeah, when are you guys meeting?”

“Like four. The plan is for us to go our separate ways for dinner and then meet back here for work.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, I can open up the place for you.”

“Sweet,” Arika left, wine glass in hand, leaving a napkin behind on the bar. A napkin with a message written on it in neat handwriting.

 

_He likes you ♡_

 

Kai looked up at Arika, who was sitting on her customers lap and glancing back at Kai with a mischievous smile. Kai nodded back, pulling a pen out from his pocket and writing back a response.

 

_I KNOW_

 

He held it up, watching as Arika’s smile brightened.

Kai folded up the napkin and put it in his pocket with the pen. He didn’t want Arika to get the wrong idea, that he didn’t care. Plus, he was feeling a little possessive of the man, honestly, after watching the two of them interact earlier. He knew that was ridiculous and unfair, but he felt jealous of her anyway. It was stupid, he knew, but the fact that she was a woman and Kai was a man made him nervous, somehow. Because no matter what Kai did, Arika would always be different than him, and if Aoi truly wanted a woman, at the end of the day, he couldn’t compete with that.

He was pretty sure Aoi liked men, though. The problem was more that being a man, Kai felt he might not be enough. There was nothing more frustrating than that.

Aoi was sitting in his chair, talking to the older man and laughing at something he said. There was a cigarette smoking between his fingers, and it curtained both men in their own little world of laughter and smoke. Everyone in the buildings started breaking off into their own little groups at this point in the night, making their own little intoxicated fantasies. And there Kai stood, soberly above it all. He hated it in some ways. He would have liked to be a man or a host himself, getting to create his own little space in the crowded room, but he also loved standing behind the bar, above it all, feeding it drinks to push it to continue. He had no control over the little intricacies of the night, sure, but he could make it all go away with a snap of his fingers. That was an intoxicating fantasy all its own.

As the night moves men leave and girls wave goodbye to him. He records their time out on his tablet and the band color they got to. Some girls trade men, some end up working together, one fantasy blending into the next until a man with two girls hanging off his arms disappeared into the back.

And so it began, the disappearing, the desire to hide their fantasies and do things they felt they couldn’t show the public. Well, some of them were chill with it. Something was going on in the booth just out of Kai’s line of sight, he could hear it from where he was, and it was clearly drawing Reita’s dates attention.

These were the sort of things Kai was here for. He brought over another beer, just in case, and took a seat so that it blocked the mans view of the interaction behind him, “Hey, you two. Just thought I’d bring over another drink. Everything going alright?”

“Um, yeah, I just-“

“So, I have an offer. A blue band, no charge.”

“Oh, um…”

Kai held the band up, wriggling it between his fingers, “I mean, you can upgrade if you want.”  
“I was just thinking it might be time for me to head out, actually…”

“Oh, well, if that’s what you want, I’ll leave you two alone then,” and Kai got up, leaving the band and the beer on the table.

Aoi’s date seemed to be going a little better, but not much. The men were laughing about something, but there seemed to be no intension of going any further, and that was even clearer when the man picked up his suitcase and Aoi walked him towards the exit.

That left four hostesses and maybe a host, if he was lucky.

Honestly, tonight went pretty well, all things considered.

Aoi came back over to Kai, “Hey.”

“Ready to sign out?”

Aoi shrugged, “I mean, I guess, yeah. You need help with anything?”

“I mean, not really. I usually clean later. And you must be tired. You should get some rest.”

“And coffee?”

“Can happen after you’re well-rested. I know a good cafe. They can make eggs any way you can imagine.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Like, what about unicorn-shaped?”

Kai looked up at Aoi, eyes dead serious, “Even unicorn-shaped.”

Aoi laughed, shaking his head, “Okay, unicorn-shaped eggs it is.”

“Cool. We can meet a bit later, if you like. More like eleven for brunch? I know it’s not really breakfast, but it’s late, and you need rest.”

“Are you this way with everyone?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you always worry about peoples health so much?”

Kai ignored the comment, pulling out his phone as it vibrated again.

 

_Sorry to keep you waiting your friend is very demanding i’ll be down in a min_

 

“So is eleven okay?” Kai put his phone back in his pocket.

Aoi rolled his eyes. “Well, I guess. But I mean, you have a lot to do here. And I really don’t mind staying up. I’m a little too worked up to go to sleep.”

“Oh, had a little too much?”

“Maybe, yeah.”

“Okay, well, maybe you could collect all the dirty clothes backstage and put it in a laundry basket? I’ll have to do laundry after this.”

“Okay,” Aoi left with a nod.

By the time Aoi disappeared backstage and Kai glanced back towards Reita, Reita had his shirt off and the other man was sitting on the floor, completely naked. They sat their in silence, Reita even scrolling through his phone with one hand, while the other stroked the mans hair.

It wasn’t the weirdest thing Kai had seen, but it was weird. In a sweet way, though. And it was the first time all evening there wasn’t a trace of tension to be found in either man’s shoulders.

Kai smiled. At least something was going right tonight.

Ruki appeared behind the curtain, and Kai waved him over.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Ruki must have left his sunglasses upstairs, and up close Kai could see that his lip had split open again. Not too bad, but enough it was noticeable. “Did that happen just now?”

“What?”

“Your lip.”

“Oh um,” Ruki reached up, touching it lightly with his index and middle fingers. They came away red. “Shit.”

“It’s not a big deal. We need to figure out somewhere for you to sleep tonight.”

“Uruha offered to take me to his place.”

“He’s not going anywhere for a while.”

“But don’t you have a date after close?”

“Well yeah but… wait, how did you know that?”

“Everyone knows that.”

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. “But you were upstairs all night!”

“They’re all talking about it in the group chat.”

“Group chat? There’s a group chat now?”

“Yeah, all the girls made one when they weren’t working for a month to help each other find odd jobs and stuff. I mean, I guess it’s kind of pointless now, but they invited me anyway.”

“Who invited you?”

“Ah, Vee, I think.”

“Was she bigger?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Yeah, it was Vee. Of course it was Vee.” Kai sighed and shook his head. “Right, so, you still need a place to sleep. And so does Uruha.”

“He’s already asleep.”

“I know that, I just mean later. Like, after we close.”

“I have an idea.”

“Yes?”

“I could go back to Uruha’s place.”

“That’s a terrible idea.”

“It’s really not, though. I get a place to sleep, Uruha gets home safe, and you get to go on your date in peace.”

“It’s not a date.”

“Really? Because Arika made it sound like Aoi told her you guys were going for coffee later. And Aoi said he wasn’t gay, but Neko is pretty sure he is because she overheard Arika talking to Aoi about it and he sounded pretty excited. Like, _really_ excited. Like-“

“I don’t do dates, okay? We’re just getting coffee.”

“Mmmhmm, okay sir.”

Kai looked up at Ruki, who was fixated on him phone. His hair fell over half his face and the red of his lip made the hue of his hair almost blue instead of purple. He was pouting slightly, as he always seemed to be, and Kai wondered if that was just a side-effect of the split lip or he was just truly that… pretty.

_He’s fifteen Kai, get a fucking grip_.

“There’s no need to call me that.”

“Oh, sir?”

“Yeah, that. Just call me Kai.”

“Yes, _sir_ ,” Ruki drew out the word to make it twice as long as strictly necessary and leaned over the bar, getting really close to Kai’s face and looking him dead in the eye before glancing to his lips and then back up.

Kai leaned forward slightly, whispering in Ruki’s ear. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”

“Maybe I like dangerous,” Ruki pulled back, settling back on the other side of the bar. “So, can I stay at Uruha’s?”

“Can I stop you?”

“Uh… nope,” Ruki picked up his phone with a smile.

“Didn’t think so. Right, let’s get Uruha downstairs, then.”

Ruki smiled, bouncing to the other side of the bar, standing right where Kai needed to walk through to get out from behind the bar.

“Ruki, can you-“

“Hold on, I have a question.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

They stood there for a minute, Ruki staring into his eyes in a way that had to be considered rude, but Kai found himself drawn to his gaze. They stood like that for a minute, and then Ruki took a step forward. A part of Kai knew that the normal response would be to take a step back, but there he was, pretty split lip, so small and warm and close, and Kai froze.

“Um, Ruki?”

“Yes?”

“What’s the question?”

“I think you’re answering it,” Ruki kissed the base of Kai’s jaw, and Kai found his hands going to Ruki’s waist.

“You’re fifteen, Ruki.”

“But I want to, Kai. It’s a shame you don’t do dates, really,” Ruki’s lips were trailing down Kai’s neck, leaving behind wet, cold, sticky traces that left Kai shivering.

“I swear all you boys have it out for me.”

“Would you like us to stop?” Ruki bit down hard, and Kai stifled the sound he could feel bubbling in his throat. He looked to the stage door, but Aoi was nowhere to be seen, and when he looked to Reita and his company they were still enjoying each other in their own strange peaceful way. If they had seen, they didn’t care, but still…

Kai pulled Ruki to the floor so the two were hidden by the bar.

“Oh!” Ruki gasped out in shock, and his hand tightened in Kai’s shoulder. Kai could see Ruki’s lip was bleeding even worse now, and Kai had no doubt the blood was what left cooling tacky marks on his skin.

“Your lip is bleeding.”

“It does that.”

“Have you done this before?”

“Done what?”

“Had sex.”

“Yes,” Ruki went for Kai’s shoulder again, but he put his hand on Ruki’s chest, holding him back.

“Doesn’t it hurt when you do that?”

“Maybe, but it’s kinda nice.”

“Right, okay, but don’t kiss me right now, okay?”

“But-“

“Think of something that sounds nice that doesn’t make you use your mouth.”

Ruki smiled and reached for the button of Kai’s pants.

“Shit, are you sure about this?”

Ruki nodded. “Are you?”

Kai lifted his hips so Ruki could pull his pants down.

Ruki had this way of looking immediately disheveled while being impeccably together all at once that Kai found incredibly sexy, he was allowing himself to admit it, now. Maybe it was because the boy existed in a way that was a mess, just moving from one thing to the next without taking the time to stop between things. He was eclectic in appearance. Kai sort of wanted to call him cute, but he wasn’t really. He was cute in the way a snake is cute. He was cute, but he was only cute because he was small and elegant and seemed like he was one step ahead of your every thought. 

“I want to kiss you.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Ruki wrapped his hands around Kai, gentle and firm in all the right places and at all the right moments. Ruki’s face was close to Kai, and he could feel the heat of Ruki’s breath on himself, his long hair curtained his face and brushed over Kai so the tips of it stuck together, sticky drops clinging and clouding the pale purple color.

“You’re beatuiful.”

“So I hear,” Ruki curled his fingers, and Kai arched his back. Ruki smiled at that, using his other hand to pull back his curtain of hair, hooking it behind his ear. “You are too, but I bet you already know that. You’ve got men all over you, don’t you?” He gripped Kai in a way that make Kai gasp and lick his lips.

“Fuck Ruki.”

“That’s right, you’re going to say my name, aren’t you?”

“Do you like it?”

“Oh yes,” Ruki’s eyes where clouding like the tips of his hair, unfocused and captivating. “It’s a shame I can’t kiss you.”

“Yeah,” Kai agreed, and he started to try and sit up a little, but fell back in defeat with Ruki’s hand on his shoulder.

“Let yourself enjoy this,” Ruki pushed off his shoulder, pausing for a moment as his eyes traced the trail of red down Kai’s neck. He drew a finger up it in a line, pausing to press firmly at Kai’s jawline. “It’s like art, isn’t it? All of this, it’s like art on your skin.”

Kai sighed as Ruki drew his finger away from his jaw and sped up his strokes over Kai’s dick, each one layering on the next for the phantom of the previous touch faded into an ache and the crispness of the next touch made his skin prickle to goosebumps with the warmth. His own vision was going a little hazy, like he was looking at Ruki through a filter that made every color brighter and every edge a little softer. Ruki hummed, voice a low grumble, and Kai groaned, throwing a his arm to hide his eyes as more goosebumps landed on his skin. 

“No sir, I wanna see that,” and Ruki pulled Kai’s arm away from his face, the strokes slower with only one free hand.

“Ruki I-“

Ruki put a finger to Kai’s lips. “Surprise me.”

Kai bit his lip and closed his eyes. It was too much, the low voice and the pretty young thing somehow at odds with each other in his mind. At the end of the day, Kai could tell if he let himself come he was going to feel guilty about it. But maybe if he didn’t he could just brush it off and they could pretend and just go back to-

Kai gasped, arching his back. Somehow, Ruki’s hand had found his way up Kai’s shirt, and _fuck_ that just wasn’t _fair._ Ruki’s chuckle was low and crackly in ways that made Kai feel like he was being wrapped in a warm blanket, but he knew the blanket was just a little too small and he wanted to care about that, but he couldn’t, not when Ruki twisted Kai’s skin like _that_. Kai opened his eyes, and there was Ruki, sitting up on his knees between Kai’s spread legs, his lips spread in a smile that was as cracked as the voice that passed between them.

Kai should have known it was pointless to try and rewind time.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Ruki’s breath was heavy as Kai felt his own weight sink into his thighs and chest. He didn’t want to move an inch, he was more comfortable than he’d ever been.

It only lasted a moment, though, and then it hit him, like cold-water on his face.

“Shit,” Kai sat up, “shit, shit, shit-“

Ruki grabbed Kai’s hand. Ruki’s hand was slick, turning sticky in the cooling air.

“Kai?” Ruki’s eyes shimmered in the dim light, shimmered like their joined hands did between them.

“Let’s have Uruha take you home.”

Ruki was quiet, eyes falling away from Kai’s and to his knees. “Yes, sir.”

Kai hated the way his heartbeat sped up at Ruki’s words.


	10. Chapter 10

Uruha’s apartment was the apartment of a perpetual bachelor. The space was littered with take-out containers and alcohol bottles, the bed was unmade, and the chairs were piled high with clothes just barely clean enough to wear another time without washing them. Ruki was pretty sure that carpet hadn’t been vacuumed since Uruha had moved in, and the place smelled… stale, if Ruki was being generous. However, after Kai’s considerable cold shoulder and babysitting an alcoholic for the evening, Ruki was not feeling particularly generous.

“It smells like suicide in here.”

Uruha just laughed, throwing his hair over his shoulder, “Well then, come in and make yourself at home.”

Ruki closed the door behind him, watching as Uruha shoved video game controllers and chip packaging to one side of the couch. “Are you expecting me to sleep on _that_?”

“I mean, you could join me in my bed.”

“When was the last time you washed your sheets?”

“Um…”

“That’s what I thought.”

“What’s got you so pissy?”

Ruki reached for his finger, only to be reminded there was nothing to fidget with on it. “Kai was just an asshole.”

“In what way?” Uruha sat on the empty spot of the couch, putting his feet up over the side covered with garbage. He was still wearing those ridiculous boots that came up to his thighs, and the faux leather squeaked lewdly as he crossed his ankles.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Right, um…” Ruki decided this was the sort of conversation you sat down for. He also decided that, whatever the normal decorum might be, there was no way he was removing his shoes. Ruki ended up siting on the armrest of the lounge chair, feet up where his butt should have been, crushing a salsa container under his shoe. “Well, I sort of jerked him off. And then he kinda sent me here.”

“Oh fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“And how old are you?”

“Why is that your business?”

“Um, because you look fifteen and sound twenty-five.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter. What matters is…” Ruki reached for the finger again, only to stop short. “Fuck, I’m sorry, you aren’t, like, jealous, are you?”

“Naw, you know me. Love is love and love is free.”

“Okay, well, I don’t know, this just feels weird now.” The salsa container crunched slightly under his shoe. Ruki could feel Uruha’s eyes on him even though he wasn’t looking at him, and scratched at his scalp for a moment in the tense silence.

“Would it be less weird if we fucked?”

“What?” Ruki looked at Uruha with that, eyes narrow in either frustration, anger, or confusion. If he was being honest with himself, it was probably none of the three, but admitting curiosity made him feel like a dirty slut and not in a good way.

“I mean, we could fuck, if you want. It might make it less weird.”

“How the fuck would that make it less weird?”

“Well, no one can really be jealous of anyone else if we’re all fucking, you know?”

“I… I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Well, even if it’s not, we could still…“

Ruki stood up and went over to the couch, standing over Uruha, who seemed to have forgotten what words were. To be fair, Ruki was starting to forget, too.

“Ruki?”

“What the fuck, let’s do it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Show me your dirty sheets.”

Uruha laughed, standing up and grabbing Ruki’s slender wrist. “Gladly.”

~

Aoi was smiling at him in a soft way, sun still a sherbet orange on the horizon. He’d closed earlier then expected, and somehow Aoi had talked him into pushing the date a little earlier.

“It’s really a unicorn.”

“And you doubted me.”

Aoi’s laugh was soft like the light coming in the window behind him, and Kai found himself smiling in return. There was something comfortable about it, the sunlight and the laughter, the cocktail of caffeine and oxytocin flowing through his arteries and veins. It made everything more vivid and softer all at once, like being drunk but his self-control was still intact. It was the sort of moment that made the song playing Kai’s favorite song, even if he really kind of hated it.

“I didn’t doubt you, I’m just naturally skeptical.”

“Sure you are.” Kai smiled, watching as Aoi picked up his coffee mug, steam clouding his stale eyeliner.

“Mmm, the coffee is good.”

“Yeah, I really like it. This place is a little hidden treasure. I always like little businesses like this.”

“So you’re a local kind of guy?”

“I mean, I guess. I like American television, though.”

“Oh?”

Kai took a bit of egg. “Yeah, like Supernatural and Walking Dead, shows like that.”

“So you like horror?”

“Softer horror, yeah.”

Aoi nodded, sitting his coffee back on the table. “That’s cool. I mean, I don’t do a lot of horror, but I respect it. I guess I’m kind of old-fashioned, really. I tend to stick to magazines and music.”

Kai nodded in understanding, and it was quite for a bit, longer than Kai felt comfortable with. This was why he hated dates. How the hell do people get to know each other like this? What was even the point of this kind of superficial bonding? Kai just didn’t get it. Dates for him always felt like him and his date spending a lot of money to stare at each other in public in a way that made everyone else around them uncomfortable. And often for him, it ended in a brief relationship and even briefer sex that was hopelessly awkward if they ever ran into each other again. This was sort of like a second date, though, because they’d already had sex once. And Kai, well, second dates just wasn’t something he did anymore.

“You seem tired.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t.”

“I’m just in denial.”

_Me too_ , thought Kai, enjoying the way the sunlight made the hairspray in Aoi’s hair shine, _me too_.

~

Ruki found himself on his hands and knees, feeling off-balance as the mattress shifted behind him. He could feel the warm, wet line of his tongue trailing up his thigh and over his ass, and it was weird but so nice Ruki couldn’t help but moan about it. The man kissed the mound of his ass, and Ruki could feel the smile on his lips against his skin.

“You’ve gotta relax, Ruki.”

“I know, I just-“

“I get it, but this can only work if you’re relaxed, yeah?”

Ruki took a deep breath, and Uruha gripped Ruki’s hip. “That’s right, just like that.” Uruha’s other hand cupped his ass. “So perfect I just wanna spank it.”

“Yes.”

“What was that?”

Ruki wiggled in a way he hoped Uruha would think was sexy “Do it. Spank me.”

“Mmmmmm, ask me nicely?”

“Please.”

“Good boy.”

Ruki jumped, surprised by how hard and how loud the sound was, but found himself moving back, trying to tempt that hand, that pain, back.

“Oh, you do like this, don’t you?”

“Please.”

Uruha hit him again, and Ruki moaned this time, hands releasing their grip on the sheets beneath him. Uruha’s laugh was deeper than it had been when he had been drunk. It was strange, too, in a way Ruki couldn’t quite describe. The next hit was harder, quickly followed by another, and Ruki gave up trying to keep silent. The feeling was warm and on the edge of dangerous, like when he’d leave his finger in the fire just a little longer than he probably should have.

“Please don’t stop, please, please, please.”

Uruha’s breaths were getting louder, and so was the sound of Ruki’s heartbeat in his ears. Sometimes, if he got really turned on, Ruki’s face would feel like pins and needles, but in a nice way. It was hard to describe, exactly, but it was the best feeling in the world.

“That’s much better. I think you’re ready now.”

Uruha stopped, and Ruki shivered slightly. Everything felt cold all the sudden and-

“AH!”

“Ruki?”

“Sorry, just, cold.”

Uruha laughed. “Sorry.”

“So’kay.”

Uruha’s finger entered Ruki again, and Ruki had to admit, strange as it seemed, it was actually really nice. Way nicer than he had expected, especially when he started to move.

“Please, Uruha, please.”

“You like that?”

“Yes.”

“You want another?”

“Please, Uruha, please.”

He felt like a broken record, spinning faster than he should, senses fizzling into a sort of mist every time the needle hit the crack in the record, every time Uruha’s fingers found their way a little deeper. It burned, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant, like the scratch of a record isn’t entirely unpleasant.

Sex, for Ruki, wasn’t so far removed from music.

“I think you can take another one.”

“Uruha-“

“What do you think? Do you think you can handle another one?”

“Yes, please.”

He liked the feeling, the sensation of being full without feeling ugly or guilty about it. It was so much better than Ruki had hoped. He tried to rock back into it, tried to match Uruha’s pace and meet him in the middle. He felt Uruha spread his fingers, and Ruki hissed, bending his head down. That’s when Uruha grabbed his hair and pulled his head back.

Ruki squealed, a higher sound than he knew he could make.

“Oh yeah.”

“No, let go!” Ruki shook his head.

Uruha let go and Ruki’s head fell forward. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, that just hurt.”

“Okay.”

Uruha’s fingers withdrew, leaving Ruki empty and wanting. After the initial uncomfortable feeling of being stretched, not being stretched seemed suddenly seemed way more uncomfortable.

“Uruha, please, I want you inside me, please-“

“Patience, we need a condom for that.”

Ruki groaned, plunging his face into the pillow in front of him in defeat. The high was great, but he was not enjoying this low at all.

He heard a chuckle behind him, felt a slap jiggle his ass again. “Is this all for me?”

This groan was much more pleased than the previous one, and as Ruki sought the pleasure he knew was just out of sight behind him, he met not the hand he was expecting, but something far… larger than that.

Was he afraid? Maybe.

“Are you ready, Ruki?”

“Yes, Uruha.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to fuck me, Uruha. Please.”

“Mmm… only because you asked so nicely.”

Ruki took a deep breath, a breath that got caught in a gasp, because _this,_ this was everything he’d never let himself imagine it would be.

~

“Well…”

“That was nice.”

“Yeah.”

“We should do that again.”

“Yeah.

“Am I working tonight?”

“Yeah.”

Kai only cared about one thing in that moment, and that was his bed at home, warm and soft and inviting as every bed ought to be.

Aoi was muttering something about which train he took home, and Kai processed they were going the same direction and that meant they were walking together, and they walked side-by-side and Aoi was quiet and Kai could hear his own breathing and heart beating and he hoped Aoi couldn’t hear it and if he did he wouldn’t comment.

The silence was like a bow. Sometimes the hair was pulled tight and other times it was as though the string player had loosened the hair. 

The hair was loose. It was peaceful. It was quiet. They did not stick together. They had no purpose, no goal in mind. They were riding the train home, between worlds of nightlife and daytime, between decency and vulgarity, and Kai was tired.

The train jerked, the string pulled tight. Aoi scooted closer to him as other passenger’s piled on. One of those passengers wore a noseband. He sat across from them, spreading his legs to take up two seats worth of space. Kai wondered how big his dick had to be for him to need that much space.

The train jerked, Aoi’s arm bumping again Kai’s. It was warm and soft and inviting as very arm ought to be.

Kai scooted closer to Aoi.

Reita was looking to either of his sides, the floor, the ceiling, his phone, the window, the advertisements that filled the spaces between those things. The one place he didn’t look was right in front of him.

The train jerked to a stop again.

Aoi leaned over, whispering in Kai’s ear, “How big do you think his dick is his skinny ass needs that much space?”

Kai laughed, glancing over at Reita. Reita was watching them now, but he quickly looked away when Kai looked at him. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Bet it’s tiny. I mean, guys with actually big dicks don’t feel the need to show it off like that.”

“Oh, and how does the very-much-not-gay man I am sitting next to know so much about that?”

Aoi shoved Kai’s shoulder, scooting closer, pressing their thighs together and slapping his knee, “Shut your pretty mouth?”

“Pretty?”

Aoi rolled his eyes. “I said shut it.”

Kai smiled. The sunlight was warm on his face. He was tired. Aoi was pretty. He was excited to have a bed to himself.

~

“Well…”

“That was nice.”

“Yeah.”

“We should do that again.”

“Yeah.

“You working tonight?”

“Yeah.”

Uruha blew out a stream of smoke to his side, and Ruki stared at the ceiling, enjoying the scent in a strange sort of way. Not because it was pleasant, but because it was his and Uruha’s. It was something no one else could touch and taint.

Ruki rolled onto his side, watching Uruha put out his cigarette in his ashtray. “You don’t plan to tell anyone about this, do you?”

Uruha looked down at Ruki, raising a smudged eyebrow. “Do you want to keep it a secret?”

“I don’t know, don’t you think Kai might get pissed?”

“Who gives a fuck?”

“He’s our boss.”

“You’ve seen the way he runs things. He’s just a facilitator, really. In essence, it’s us that run things.”

Ruki stared at Uruha, who motioned for Ruki to lay on his chest, which Ruki did. He smelled kinda like an old gym locker, and it was awesome.

“Don’t forget that in this business, yeah? It’s you that runs you, no one else, okay?” Uruha lifted Ruki’s chin up, and Ruki met his eyes. “Promise me you’ll remember that?”

Ruki looked at Uruha’s eyes. His makeup was smudged like Picasso, running in rivulets, and it gave him an impression of being far away even though Ruki was literally laying on his chest. “Yeah, I promise.”

Uruha kissed him, smiling softly as he pulled away. “Good.”


	11. Chapter 11

Late afternoon. Kai feels sticky, but he’s smiling. Success. He takes a picture on his phone and sends it to his mom, smiling, turning on the sink with his elbow. In the corner is candy - sugar-spun rainbow unicorns, mostly lopsided, but one is perfect, the sort of thing that could play the role of figurine in a child’s bedroom, the sort of thing that could sell for 9000 yen, easy.

 

_That’s beautiful! So proud._

 

Kai smiled at his mom’s message, drying his hands on a towel and reaching for some plastic wrap. It had been a while since Kai had made candy, but he hoped these made up for it. And god help him, he hoped they’d stop sending those crude e-mails once they got their fix.

~

“We need to talk.” Uruha storms into the Red Motel, hands on his hips, weight all supported by one leg.

“Just a minute, Uruha.”

“Just a minute my ass.” Uruha’s footsteps over to the bar are aggressively loud, the kind parents usually scold their children for. “We’re meeting in your office about this now.”

Kai freezes in his movements, turning to Uruha. “It’s something we can’t discuss out here?”

“Yes. It’s about Ruki.”

“What about him?”

Uruha sighs, face-palming, “This will be way less tedious for both of us if you just follow me upstairs.”

Uruha storms off towards the stairs, hips swaying. It’s seductive, sure, but it’s not seductive enough, and the weight in his pocket of Ruki’s ring keeps him put. Besides, he can’t have Uruha in his office yet. He has a couple clients stopping by, and the goods are sitting out on his desk. The last thing he needs is Uruha nosing into his side business. 

“You coming?”

“We open in half an hour, Uruha. Now’s not a good time.”

Uruha rolls his charcoaled eyes and a leather-clad wrist in annoyance. “Okay, fine. Whatever you say boss.” He turns back to the stage, and Kai doesn’t watch him walk away. Uruha is, after all, walking towards the stage, where Aoi has his arms and legs wrapped around a pole, egged on by Arika, who’s encouraging him to climb up to the top of the pole and slide down to get a sense of how much room he actually has. When Aoi had walked in, Arika had been ecstatic to see him, to drag the poor man into a corner and gossip into his ear and Kai was trying super hard not to think about what they might have been gossiping about because he was almost certain it had something to do with him. And god forbid people talk about him when anyone else even remotely interesting existed.

Ruki finally emerged from the back room in casual dress again, but casual in a way that included enough makeup anyone who looked at his would be aware of it. Kai was leaving the bar to him again, mostly because he was good at it, partially because it would keep him busy and away from Kai. And honestly, what he needed most right now was some space.

Ruki, however, seemed to have other plans.

Kai tried to just slip past Ruki and to the front with no trouble, but instead Ruki was standing right in his way, arms crossed in a way that seemed to be trying to be intimidating. Kai suspected, though, that his heart skipped a beat for a different reason.

“Can we talk?”

Kai tried to continue walking - it did seem like the best course of action - but Ruki shifted the direction Kai was trying to escape. “I have to open, Ruki. Can’t it wait?”

“You’ve avoiding everyone.”

“What?”

“It’s pretty obvious you’re avoiding everyone. I’ve only been here for a little bit and I can already tell.”

“I’m just busy, Ruki.” Kai finally managed to slip past Ruki, put not totally unscathed. The touch was brief, but warm and inviting and all too constructed for Kai’s comfort. “I’ve got a lot to do to reopen after being closed for so long, and I’m not sure that people were too excited about the additions last night. They didn’t hate them, but it’s a bit nerve-racking. And we have big clients coming in today.”

“Really?”

Kai thought about laying his head on the table in defeat. Maybe he’d just take a nap. A nap in a guillotine. “Don’t tell anyone, yeah? I want people loose.”

Ruki’s eyes were wide, then narrow, scrutinizing and uncomfortable and yeah the guillotine seemed like a nice idea right now.

“And you don’t get nervous, either. Just… do you best.” Kai reached out his hand as though to pat his shoulder, but then pulled back.

Ruki smiled softly and nodded, eyes drawn politely away. “Do your best.” He whispered the comment into the carpet, into his shoes, into the humidity, so quietly the morsel was immediately swallowed.

“Yes, do your best.”

Ruki nodded, “Yes, I’ll do my best.” He bowed slightly and took his place behind the bar, fidgeting with his phone.

Kai didn’t see it, but reflected by the phone screen, tears shown on his cheeks. No one had ever told Ruki to do his best like that before.

~

They showed up right before Aoi’s performance, which was a simultaneously convenient and inconvenient.

He was wearing a t-shirt with a tear in the bottom. She was shivering in fishnets and a bra. And the third one was wearing a thick coat Kai thought they should consider sharing with the girl expect for the fact that they were Ruki-sized.

Ruki-sized.

Kai shook his head. He couldn’t do that to himself, couldn’t think about Ruki and couldn’t make one of _them_ anything like Ruki. It would be an insult to Ruki as much as a curse.

“Boys?” The guy spoke first, brushing his hair out of his eye.

“Yeah.” Kai shifted uncomfortably, motioned them inside.

“Stupid.” Kai had forgotten how blunt the man could be.

“Come upstairs, please.”

The guys stared at him, a bit like Ruki had earl-

_Stop,_ Kai thought to himself, _For both your sakes._

“What do you say, girls?”

“I’m not a girl,” said the one in the coat, hood falling back to reveal a blacken eye.

“Not yet, but soon. Soon, that insult will appeal to you.”

Kai stepped back as the man stepped forward after patting the small man’s (for now Kai knew what pronoun he preferred) head, and for a moment, Kai saw himself patting Ruki’s, just moments earlier before the bar. And as they headed upstairs and Kai practiced the art of trying not to think about something, he made a small prayer that Ruki was eighteen in his mind as much as he pretended to be.

In his office, he watched as the man and the girl eagerly picked treats off the table and stuffed them into backpacks, Kai silently totaling the price of each sweet as it tumbled from limber fingers into cushioned sides. The boy hung back, mostly watching, somewhat fidgeting. Kai was reminded, but only a little. Only enough to remember the time his mother saw him, skeletal on her door step, the way her tears fell down her cheeks as she hugged him and how Kai, for the first time in his life, felt the warmth fade from her embrace as he realized that her two arms, strong as they were, couldn’t protect him from everything.

The girl started to walk towards him, heavy back bruising her fragile shin, but the man put his hand on her chest. She startled, glared, but didn’t protest as he came up to Kai first. “I could have fixed you, you know.”

Kai shook his head, because this man before him was the kind who could only hurt, “Maybe, but I think I can help you better this way.”

“If you hadn’t escaped so young, I could have finished. Shame you’ve aged so quickly.” The man narrowed his eyes again, like a cat in the sunlight, and Kai decided to think about how he really needed to organize his desk so the man’s sunlit cat eyes wouldn’t be able to read anything else in his expression. “Aged an awful lot, it seems.” The man leaned forward, put his hand on his shoulder, and Kai thought about the disorganized desk even harder, staring at the ashtray too long forgotten. “Be careful with that thing in your pocket. Carry it too long, you might just wake up and no one will remember you exist.”

Kai closed his eyes, and he knew that was a mistake, but it’s tricky, not to close your eyes when you’re trying to forget.

~

He came to on the floor, dizzy and hard, breath lost in stale air. He stood quickly, even though he knew it was useless. On the table the sweets were all gone and a stack of yen sat in its place. Kai picked it up and counted the amount. 35,000 yen short. He sighed and put the money in an envelope in a locked drawer in his desk. He reached into his pocket, too, and pulled out the ring, glinting sliver in the dingy light. For good measure, he stuck the ring in there, too. If he was lucky, maybe it was the sort of trinket that could be forgotten.


End file.
